Goodbye Rebrickable – I won’t miss you

[Sven J]

Hello everyone,

As the title suggests, I'm really upset about recent decisions by the people behind Rebrickable.

Last night, I received "warnings" for eight of my models on Rebrickable. Essentially, it's about three things:

• A MOC inventory now has to include all elements used to build the model.
  As e.g. for cut hoses, this is basically impossible due to the lack of a part number, which is why I always point out in the model description that pieces of rigid hose are needed. However, this practice is no longer allowed.
• The main photo of the model must not show any stickers that can't be downloaded along with the instructions. I frequently use thin self-adhesive tape for trim lines on my model – how on earth should I be able to upload that or include it in the inventory???
• Photos of the model must not reveal any third-party parts. Thus, I would have to show my two-axle passenger car without wheels; I would have to take a photo of my Tu-144 with gray hinges for the canards because Lego doesn't offer white ones.
  But I did always explicitly mention all third-party elements in the model description! It was clear to everyone and I’ve never received a single complaint.

All three items have never been an issue and have now been introduced through the back door, literally overnight.

I'm now supposed to revise the “warned” models and request a new review.

Well, no, Rebrickable, you can do that without me.
I've always wanted to give something back to the fantastic Lego community by making my models available on Rebrickable (which is why I never charged money for them).

But then, first the plagiarists came along, and now Rebrickable is going crazy – sorry, I don't need to waste my time with that.

I will therefore deactivate my Rebrickable account and all MOCs on July 1st and hope that others will do the same.
So if anyone still wants to download one of my models, you’d better hurry. 

Of course, I'll remain active here at EB.
And we'll find another way to share instructions for our creations.

Best regards,
Sven

Edited June 16 by Sven J

[Toastie]

50 minutes ago, Sven J said:

I've always wanted to give something back to the fantastic Lego community by making my models available on Rebrickable (which is why I never charged money for them).

But then, first the plagiarists came along, and now Rebrickable is going crazy – sorry, I don't need to waste my time with that.

Hi Sven,

there is nothing more to add: Get the f* out of there.

This, your very approach, is how it should be embraced by us — in an educated, grown-up, giving, living-the-LEGO-idea, world. Well. Things change. Back in 1965, I got my first set … some years later, a small box of bricks which was my world of fun they call nowadays “creativity”. I may be totally wrong here, but your “creations” (adopting TLG talk, never liked it, creations are results of playing and — when you somehow “mature”, planning before building) are a result of deep fun, in many regards. Perfection may be one, showing how it works (the building instructions) another. Just enjoying what you have accomplished (for the sole reason of joy for yourself) a further. Sharing seems to be what drives you. That is what I do here on EB: Sharing - regardless of any kind of praise or whatever. Just that: Sharing. I never made it to Rebrickable - I am simply not good enough, but you certainly are, or better: Have been, as you are pulling the plug.

Now, should the usage of any kind of “piece” (hardware or software) that is not TLG compliant not be allowed anymore - then just present your creativity to other gods of toys, materials, and ideas. They have since long gone past accepting offerings from TLG's admirers - they are simply creative.

So, without further ado ;) - just quit there. 

All the best
Thorsten 

[Sven J]

@Toastie Thank you Thorsten for your warm and encouraging words!

[dtomsen]

TLG and unfortunately the wider AFOL community have long embraced the Highlander motto "there can only be one"
The subniche within a subniche which we call LEGO model trains has for quite some time now moved well outside of those constraints both out of necessity and creativity. Tracks, wheels, rods, power and control systems, stickers, UV-printing on elements, 3d printing own elements, heck, even other competing brands. The list just goes on and on. The genie is out the bottle and can't be forced back in. None of us diehard LEGO model train builders want to go back to only building caricatures of trains. We want to push the envelope just like you do, Sven.
If those behind Rebrickable don't understand that with their reactionary and counterproductive move, it's their loss, not yours.
You'll find other suitable venues like Open L-Gauge to share you fantastic creations and people will follow along.

Edited June 22 by dtomsen

[Sven J]

Thanks for your understanding, @dtomsen!

[Sven J]

Update:
Rebrickable had warned 8 MOCs. This morning, without warning, they banned 14 (!!!) of my models within 5 minutes.
Even though it's not July 1 yet, I've now deactivated the remaining 7 models as well. I'll see if I can find another platform soon.
In any case:
**** ***, Rebrickable. I'm just sorry for the money I spent every year to support you.

[mattsbrickmocs]

Hey Sven. Iv been trying to find you since you disappeared from rebrickable. I downloaded your instructions for the Tyrrell 019 and redesigned it without all the famous illegal lego techniques lol. I also changed some areas to flow more smoothly and to my taste. Ive had some 3D printed mirrors and wheels made for it and iv just finished making the standard sticker sheet for it. I am now also planning to do the livery that should of been but never happend with Rothmans.

I will be selling the wheels, mirrors and stickers as a package and as you didnt charge for your instructions, I will be including my ones for free with the pack.

I wanted to give you credit for the initial concept and design and link your profile etc for people to visit, follow and see your other creations.

As you have now gone from rebrickable, is there another platform / site etc that you use that I can link and send people to?

[Toastie]

3 hours ago, mattsbrickmocs said:

ve had some 3D printed mirrors and wheels made for it

That is TOTALLY illegal  Actually, it is so illegal that I simply love it!

Have fun and all the best
Thorsten

[Sven J]

Hi @mattsbrickmocs,

Thanks for your kind request!
As for now, I haven't found a new site to publish instructions for my models. However, you can link to my Flickr albums page where (nearly) all of my MOCs are displayed.
Of course I'd love to see pictures of your Tyrrell 019 version as well!

Best regards,
Sven

Edited July 1 by Sven J

[mattsbrickmocs]

Thank you. Once both versions are all done, i will share some pictures ☺️

[Sven J]

Update: My model files will now be made available again in my cloud.
I'll add more and more files over the next few weeks.
Please read and agreee to the "Notes on using my files" first before downloading.
Thank you!

Edited July 19 by Sven J

[mattsbrickmocs]

Awesome. Iv not had a chance to sort the Tyrrell properly as yet. Got back of holiday and have over 400 orders to make up.

[9v system]

im also in the same boat, they removed 4 of my GBC mocs despite having permission from the designers to post the instructions, im also ready to cancel my plan and say bye, also hate the fact they hate brands like Webrick who are great and i have used many times.

[Sven J]

6 hours ago, 9v system said:

they hate brands like Webrick

It's worse: you mustn't even mention clone brands there.
In one case, I stated that one of my models was based on (but heavily modified) a Bluebrixx set, I even credited the original designer.
After several years (!) the model was suddenly banned. I altered the description, removed the Bluebrixx reference, but of course let the designer credits untouched, then wrote to an admin for re-approval of the model. He answered that there was no way I could know who the original designer was (Bluebrixx states it on their website...) and so the model remains banned.
Another time, I stated that copies of a model were sold on Aliexpress although this was not authorized by me - that clearly was a warning not to buy these copies, not promotion! This was okay for some months, then they suspended the model for mentioning "pirate brands" and it was only re-approved when I changed "Aliexpress" to "Chinese websites".

They've gone a bit mad there...

[SecondHandLego]

Sorry to learn about your experiences with Rebrickable. How are you going to publish your new MOCs now?

[Sven J]

1 hour ago, SecondHandLego said:

How are you going to publish your new MOCs now?

For now I use my cloud to upload new models, and have in fact recently added my Hanomag 2/10 PS.

If this could be a permanent solution, or how else it could be handled, I don't know yet.

[SecondHandLego]

1 hour ago, Sven J said:

For now I use my cloud to upload new models, and have in fact recently added my Hanomag 2/10 PS.

If this could be a permanent solution, or how else it could be handled, I don't know yet.

I think having a cloud for downloading will work well, but few people will find your designs there. You'll need a platform to announce a new moc to the world. It could be here on Eurobricks of course, but you could consider Flickr or Instagram or so. I very recently started publishing on Flickr, and I am curious to how many downloads it will lead.

[aFrInaTi0n]

I can feel your pains as some of your reported requirements seem to be hard to impossible to achieve.

As I was in touch with the staff in the past (one man company it is), they are open for feedbacks and offer forums to discuss matters.

On the other hand I can understand possible reasonings behind those limitations, as one as a platform provider who would like to stick to go with LEGO, has to follow the rules of LEGO.

Just from my imagination I could think of some unreachable barriers may have been implemented on purpose, just to disallow for e.g. custom stickers.

Additionally the other thought may go for their own reputation for new customers getting less than they might have expected from the pictures - I do not want to blame the autor, it may be a thing of the audience not reading well enough, but the outcome for the plaform is still the same.

 

To conclude: It is not always easy to please everybody and stay within allowances and expectations.. sadly. My strong believe is, there are valid reasons behind for the restrictions being implemented, even if the outcome may not be good for old curated MOCs.

*just in case: only my personal opinion

[anothergol]

A couple of years ago I went from being a purist (NOT because I love the LEGO brand, and in fact no one should "love" a brand, large brands are never your friends - but because for me limiting myself to LEGO was part of "the rules of MOCing"), to including everything that's "in-system" (and some brands are more "in-system" than LEGO itself, preserving parts that LEGO ditched decades ago).

So for some time I had been wondering about Rebrickable's (I have some MOCs there) view on third-party elements (especially when some of them are actually easier to get than genuine LEGO), assuming that they would "probably" not like it. Well I guess it's clear now.

 

On one hand, if that's a design choice, if that's truly what the creator has always had in mind: why not, it's up to him.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I have doubts about the real motives behind such decisions. See, more than often these side companies are created purely in hope to one day be acquired by a larger one. And decisions like this seem to align with "getting along with LEGO" in hope to be possibly bought later.
But these decisions are never in OUR favor. It totally made sense for Bricklink to be acquired by LEGO, but the LEGO group didn't buy BL in OUR interest. What did they do first? Remove all third-party LEGO (which were only the chromed parts). IMHO the main reason LEGO bought BL is that BL could have become (even through a switch or under another URL) a LEGO+other brands marketplace, and LEGO's best option to prevent that was to just buy it. (that still leaves Brickowl though, which I'd totally switch to if they opened to all brands)

I haven't done much MOC instructions lately because I'm lazy, however (like most MOCers I assume) I'm regularly approached by companies who do pretty much the same thing as Rebrickable under one form or another, or wanna produce full kits, but aren't limited to the brand, or are sometimes purely based on other brands (usually GoBricks). So there are always options... (now LEGO has two hands, one full of bills and the other holding a hammer. If they don't fight by acquisition they fight through lawsuits)

What pisses me off is that very recently I just can't get any non-LEGO through Aliexpress anymore. Sluban and Sembo sets are pretty much always seized by customs for "IP infrigement" now for me (in Europe). I thought that LEGO only wanted to protect their minifigs, and thus I never buy sets with minifigs, or in the worst case I ask the seller to remove them. But it doesn't even seem to matter anymore now! It has become very hard for me to get those unique, brand-specific parts now (except the ones sold in bulk on Ali, I haven't had problems with those -so far-, but it's probably not gonna last).
(what sucks even more is that I'm also a large LEGO buyer and that I've spent 5, if not 6-digit numbers on their stuff, only to be slapped in the face when I'm also interested in the competition)

 

Edit: I'm surprised I haven't received such a warning from Rebrickable, as my "best seller" there is pretty much displaying non-LEGO parts (those wedge tiles that are now everywhere except in LEGO sets) in your face lol.

 

Edited October 2 by anothergol

[Sven J]

4 hours ago, anothergol said:

Edit: I'm surprised I haven't received such a warning from Rebrickable, as my "best seller" there is pretty much displaying non-LEGO parts (those wedge tiles that are now everywhere except in LEGO sets) in your face lol.

It seems they scan existing MOCs at quite random intervals. So, lucky as you've been until now, rest assured: it will happen to you, too... ;-)