Siroco Posted June 1 Posted June 1 We live in the worst of all possible worlds whem such things are possible... Quote
JesseNight Posted June 2 Posted June 2 That's just the result of capitalism ruling the world these days. Businesses get too powerful and they're driven by profit. We've been degraded from being the customer to being the product. I'd be happy to go back to times when stores were independent and owners had to look their customers in the eyes and take responsibility. Quote
Yoggington Posted June 3 Posted June 3 B&M served Patreon with a "takedown request" for Reckless Ben's content/income stream. The CEO of Patreon (aka one half of Pomplamousse) is a pretty cool guy though. Quote
JesseNight Posted June 3 Posted June 3 That certainly put a smile on my face. Hope that's a step towards B&M realizing they're not invincible and all powerful. Ngl I feel bad for other (nicer) franchisees, and the girl who lost her job in the store that got closed. They're only victims in a much bigger case. Quote
Mylenium Posted June 3 Posted June 3 (edited) 2 hours ago, JesseNight said: Hope that's a step towards B&M realizing they're not invincible and all powerful. Typical corporate scare tactics. They are simply trying to intimidate everyone, hoping they budge, because they know this won't hold up in court or it won't even end in front of a judge when they tuck in their tail. Another such case is the Pattie Gonia vs. Patagonia thing that popped up last week - a big company trying to put down an artist who clearly just chose the name for its phonetics. The irony there is, of course, that the company chose the name after the South American region as a reference to its outdoors-y products. I wonder what the Argentinians have to say about this? ;-) Mylenium Edited June 3 by Mylenium Quote
RyansRebuid Posted June 3 Posted June 3 My local B&M store is a good place to pick up generic pieces I may be missing from old sets or just want. So I like having a store around so that I can get some parts without shipping them on Bricklink. Obviously you have to dig around some big bins, but that can actually be kind of fun. The prices on the sets they sell are crazy. But just wanted to explain why somebody might like the store. I do not plan to go to the one by me until this situation is resolved. Quote
Darth_Bane13 Posted June 4 Author Posted June 4 13 hours ago, JesseNight said: Ngl I feel bad for other (nicer) franchisees, and the girl who lost her job in the store that got closed. They're only victims in a much bigger case. Yeah it sucks they're being punished for the incompetence of corporate. Quote
TeddytheSpoon Posted June 4 Posted June 4 (edited) 22 hours ago, Yoggington said: The CEO of Patreon (aka one half of Pomplamousse) is a pretty cool guy though. Wait, the guy from Pomplamoose is also the CEO of Patreon? That's wild. I had no idea! I saw someone on social media summarise this B&M situation as "everyone involved should've spoken to a lawyer sooner", which is hard to disagree with. But B&M's conduct, regardless of if they have any legitimacy over the sets in question, is disgraceful. Makes you wonder if there's been similar situations that just didn't get the publicity this got... Edited June 4 by TeddytheSpoon Quote
Mylenium Posted June 4 Posted June 4 1 hour ago, TeddytheSpoon said: Makes you wonder if there's been similar situations that just didn't get the publicity this got... Sure. You can easily find examples from other franchise based businesses like owners packing it up overnight and not paying back customers or franchisees being shut out of their own business by corporate HQ. It apparently happens all the time, but of course few people will make too much of a small mom & pop Subway shop getting into trouble. It's just that the circumstances are never as weird as this bizarre case. When even big YouTubers with millions of subscribers pick up the subject you are definitely getting the wrong kind of publicity... Mylenium Quote
TeddytheSpoon Posted June 4 Posted June 4 12 minutes ago, Mylenium said: Sure. You can easily find examples from other franchise based businesses like owners packing it up overnight and not paying back customers or franchisees being shut out of their own business by corporate HQ. It apparently happens all the time, but of course few people will make too much of a small mom & pop Subway shop getting into trouble. It's just that the circumstances are never as weird as this bizarre case. When even big YouTubers with millions of subscribers pick up the subject you are definitely getting the wrong kind of publicity... Mylenium I was more thinking with B&M specifically, if they'd used similar tactics to prevent having to give people what they're owed. But yes, more generally I can fully believe it happens a lot when Big Business gets involved. Quote
Peppermint_M Posted June 4 Posted June 4 LEGO is an emotive subject for people, "Innocence of Childhood" is represented by the toy and "Corruption of a wholesome subject" create all sorts of psychological reactions. Not to mention the guy was trying to get funding for Cancer treatment! (I mean, US Healthcare... You really have been chained to a Master: Capitalism. and my heart goes out to you.) The whole thing is very known now, so it is going to taint B and M, plus there is the risk as the story goes global and more commentators and influencers start to chime in, that LEGO will see it as a reputational damage to their brand. Say what you will about TLG, but they really do protect their image. I hope those wronged are helped, or at the very least the attention means the family involved can get the funds they need for healthcare. Quote
Yoggington Posted June 4 Posted June 4 4 hours ago, TeddytheSpoon said: Wait, the guy from Pomplamoose is also the CEO of Patreon? That's wild. I had no idea! Yup, a content creator who (co)founded a better way to make a living from content creation than letting the usual corporate giants set all the terms. Wanted to make better income from his online presence, ended up building a company that allowed everyone to do so (and no doubt made a better living through that than his music ever would). He has some solid recorded University talks / Ted Talks knocking around if you are interested in following how he got from there to here. Quote
Yperio_Bricks Posted June 4 Posted June 4 5 hours ago, TeddytheSpoon said: I was more thinking with B&M specifically This video made me wonder how often stuff like this happens. They went to several B&M stores to get a box of minifigs checked. In the last store the B&M employee 'forgot' to give the chrome C-3PO back and when asked about it said that it is fake anyway. I wonder how many minfigs 'disappeared' when Average Joe brings in boxes full of legos and minfigs to get them checked?!? Quote
Darth_Bane13 Posted June 4 Author Posted June 4 4 hours ago, Siroco said: In Cartman imortal words "Bastards!" Imagine if south park made an episode about this Quote
Mylenium Posted Friday at 07:52 AM Posted Friday at 07:52 AM They apparently have a long track record of fishy business practices and it's now all coming to light. Mylenium Quote
JesseNight Posted Friday at 03:57 PM Posted Friday at 03:57 PM (edited) On 6/4/2026 at 5:03 PM, Yperio_Bricks said: I wonder how many minfigs 'disappeared' when Average Joe brings in boxes full of legos and minfigs to get them checked?!? Unfortunately this seems a very common practice of "safe stealing". Casually making something go missing, and if the owner returns immediately just returning it and acting like an "oopsie". And if it's still there at the end of the day, you won't ever see it again. This entire B&M case seems to have really gone viral, but the more I see from Reckless Ben the more it feels like a big spectacle for his videos. Don't get me wrong, I don't support what B&M or the new franchisee did obviously, but so many actions taken don't feel like the proper ones. For those (like myself) who prefer hearing a more objective and unbiased view to the whole story that goes into great detail about all the known facts from all sides involved, you may wanna give this a watch. (many sides seem to agree on one thing... they should have involved actual lawyers from the beginning) Edited Friday at 03:58 PM by JesseNight Quote
Yperio_Bricks Posted Friday at 05:31 PM Posted Friday at 05:31 PM 1 hour ago, JesseNight said: This entire B&M case seems to have really gone viral, but the more I see from Reckless Ben the more it feels like a big spectacle for his videos. Will watch the video later Everyone is milking this story right now. The biggest channel I found that is reporting about the scandal accumulated 20 million views alone. Overall it must have generated hundreds of millions of views at this point. It will be interesting to see in which state B&M will get out of this. People will learn about the scandal in business school. The class will be called: How to ruin your reputation online fast (globally). Quote
TeddytheSpoon Posted Saturday at 11:40 AM Posted Saturday at 11:40 AM 19 hours ago, JesseNight said: This entire B&M case seems to have really gone viral, but the more I see from Reckless Ben the more it feels like a big spectacle for his videos. Don't get me wrong, I don't support what B&M or the new franchisee did obviously, but so many actions taken don't feel like the proper ones. I got the same feeling from the few videos of his I watched (I found the style and use of Gen-AI images rather grating). It's good that he's drawn attention to B&M's malpractice, but some of the stunts he's pulled are downright stupid from a legal point of view. Two wrongs don't make a right... Quote
Darth_Bane13 Posted Saturday at 02:56 PM Author Posted Saturday at 02:56 PM 22 hours ago, JesseNight said: (many sides seem to agree on one thing... they should have involved actual lawyers from the beginning) Ben couldn't afford a lawyer, his channel was demonetized. Quote
Murdoch17 Posted Saturday at 04:59 PM Posted Saturday at 04:59 PM (edited) 2 hours ago, Darth_Bane13 said: Ben couldn't afford a lawyer, his channel was demonetized. There are legal advice hotlines, and lawyers that only get paid if you win. So yes, there are options he didn't take. Edited Saturday at 04:59 PM by Murdoch17 Quote
Darth_Bane13 Posted Saturday at 06:14 PM Author Posted Saturday at 06:14 PM 1 hour ago, Murdoch17 said: There are legal advice hotlines, and lawyers that only get paid if you win. So yes, there are options he didn't take. He'd still have to pay them though?? He explains it here: Quote
Murdoch17 Posted Saturday at 08:52 PM Posted Saturday at 08:52 PM Sigh. Free legal advice is available. He just doesn't want to take it I guess... him saying otherwise is so stupid, I can't even put it into words. ...And no, I'm not watching his videos. As others have said - he's grating and AI stuff is not something I enjoy, so I'm avoiding it like the plague. Quote
Darth_Bane13 Posted Sunday at 12:02 AM Author Posted Sunday at 12:02 AM 2 hours ago, Murdoch17 said: Sigh. Free legal advice is available. He just doesn't want to take it I guess... him saying otherwise is so stupid, I can't even put it into words. ...And no, I'm not watching his videos. As others have said - he's grating and AI stuff is not something I enjoy, so I'm avoiding it like the plague. Well if you watched the video you would see the whole reason they didn't go to court is because Bricks and Minifigs on a phone call said (paraphrasing) "if you bring this to court, we are gonna drag it out until it cost you more than the Lego collection itself." How would free legal advice have helped him? They would have just told him to get a lawyer, which he couldn't afford. His B&M videos are some of the best I've seen on YouTube in a long time. Not watching it because of an AI thumbnail is extremely petty. Quote
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