Hello... or is it goodbye?

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

Hello there!

I'm not a new member. No, I've been active quite some time a few years ago and I've mostly posted MOCs in the Star Wars theme.

In recent years, I've become less and less interested in sets, but my love for studded bricks as a creative medium and engineering-challenge is as strong as before.

I'm not a LEGO-purist any longer. There are a lot of studded bricks out there that fit into my demand for quality besides LEGO: For me, it's Cobi, who have a lot of interesting slopes and curved slopes that fit into the stud-brick-plate system, and GoBricks. Which means my collection of bricks - which mostly contains LEGO, now also contains Cobi and GoBricks.

In the past few months, I got deeply into building historically correct sailing ships - big and detailed models. And in these MOCs, I mix LEGO bricks with bricks from Cobi and GoBricks. Not just as a substitude, but in the case with many bricks from Cobi - like their slopes and curved slopes which do not exist in LEGO's portfolio - as a feature.

 

And here comes the sad part: As I understand it, I cannot post these MOCs here in my longtime favorite MOC-forum any longer, because I do not segregate bricks from different manufacturers, but utilize them as a medium as I see fit.

Please tell me if I'm wrong in my assumption. If not - it's a sad goodbye.

Edited September 16 by DarthTwoShedsJackson

[Murdoch17]

The 'Community' area is the place for off brand talk, I believe, so you can post your moc's there, @DarthTwoShedsJackson.

Edited September 16 by Murdoch17

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

2 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

The 'Community' area is the place for off brand talk, I believe, so you can post your moc's there, @DarthTwoShedsJackson.

That's good to know - many thanks for the info. So it's more of a "I'm back". 

[anothergol]

On 9/16/2025 at 11:32 AM, DarthTwoShedsJackson said:

Hello there!

I'm not a new member. No, I've been active quite some time a few years ago and I've mostly posted MOCs in the Star Wars theme.

In recent years, I've become less and less interested in sets, but my love for studded bricks as a creative medium and engineering-challenge is as strong as before.

I'm not a LEGO-purist any longer. There are a lot of studded bricks out there that fit into my demand for quality besides LEGO: For me, it's Cobi, who have a lot of interesting slopes and curved slopes that fit into the stud-brick-plate system, and GoBricks. Which means my collection of bricks - which mostly contains LEGO, now also contains Cobi and GoBricks.

In the past few months, I got deeply into building historically correct sailing ships - big and detailed models. And in these MOCs, I mix LEGO bricks with bricks from Cobi and GoBricks. Not just as a substitude, but in the case with many bricks from Cobi - like their slopes and curved slopes which do not exist in LEGO's portfolio - as a feature.

Also used to be a purist, and not anymore. Seems like a natural evolution to me.

However, Cobi is the brand that I'm not using anything from. I LOVE their unique parts, but sadly their colors are in no way compatible with LEGO's. And there's obviously no Bricklink for Cobi. And Cobi while does sell parts, they seem to be even more expensive than LEGO's. 
So how do you manage with non-matching colors? Especially in SW that's full of light grey, and Cobi's grey is way too different.

Also btw, Flicker's LEGO groups, and obviously Instagram, are pretty open to "LEGO but not LEGO". My MOCs there have been mixed brands since 2022. 
Here, it depends who you talk to.
Personally, I'm here for the "bricks system" and not for a company (that has been really pissing me off recently, but more on this later). And let's remember that we don't even owe the brick to LEGO. Some brands have even been preserving the bricks system better than LEGO has. Like, good old hinges, or motor system, that LEGO has completely ditched.

 

Edited October 10 by anothergol

[Peppermint_M]

As the OG "Queen of the Clone Brands" I feel your pain. While "custom" figure parts can sneak in, the brick segregation is a real issue as competitor brands grow in quality. I keep things apart to ensure conformity to display rules (For cons etc) but it is no reason to not post MOCs. In fact, I would say that posting "mixed" MOCs would be fine as long as you are not entering a contest that specifies LEGO purity. (Something that has to be conformed to when prizes are provided or sponsored by TLG). It would not be deception if you shared that you used certain other brand parts in a build, nor problematic if you are upfront with it.