A very sad toy store experience today.

[Hrw-Amen]

I know that we have had topics on clone brands before and not to get into an argument about it, but I wanted to share this very sad tale of my toy store visit today.

My local toy store, (Toymaster Franchise.) is actually three stores and one of these until recently has been completely LEGO and nothing else. Over the summer the LEGO has to share with sweets and other summer tat like buckets and spades. They have a main store a couple fo shops along that also gets LEGO in it but on a smaller scale since most is in the main LEGO shop.

Today I was there and I observed that along with the LEGO on the same shelves they have started to get a lot of clone brands that are really dreadful quality, some even have brick built wheels. These sets are going for anything up to a quarter the price of real LEGO.

I was speaking to the manager today and I asked why they were putting all these clone sets out as they never used to sell them and they were ruining the LEGO display. I was told that:-

"Parents want these cheap sets that they can give as gifts to the children."

So I asked why they would buy such rubbish when the real thing was right next to it.

"Parents don't care, they know that this cheap LEGO is not as good a quality as that other LEGO, but they just want something cheap, it does not matter and this is what we sell most of."

It seems that the manager does not know what real LEGO is as they refer to clone brands as LEGO as well. That really made me sad, (Which I know is sad in itself.) but I just wonder what hope is there when even the people selling it call clone brands LEGO and admit that they know it is rubbish and put it next to real LEGO in order to sell more as they make it look like a good deal when lined up alongside the expensive real LEGO sets.

Again, i know we have talked clone brands to death, but I wanted to share this sad story as it has been bugging me that they would do that, sell knock offs calling it the real thing, probably without even knowing the differencr themselves and using LEGO as a generic term for all construction toys.

[Hey Joe]

Hey! Interesting post and I hear you, but...

Lego is a clone brand in my mind as well. They started out by copying Kiddiecraft's bricks and selling in countries that Kiddiecraft had neglected to file for a patent.

Maybe a car analogy would work well here; I own a cheap VW Jetta (the older, original model that is still made here in China). I would very much like to own a BMW or Benz, but they're out of my price range. Parents want their children to have construction toys for various reasons, but it's not a priority to get the premium brand. It's better to have something cheap than nothing at all, particularly since the child may very well play with it for fifteen minutes and never, ever touch it again. A roof over the head and food on the table is much more important, right?

Perhaps it's best to look at it like this; cheap construction toys may be the gateway that will lead them to genuine Lego in the future. If the cheaper alternative were not available and Lego is unaffordable they certainly won't be doing any building whatsoever.

That's my take on it anyway.

Cheers, Joe

[LEGO Historian]

Hey Joe... I agree with your assessment on LEGO being a clone of Kiddicraft. However there is a caveat... only the 2x2 and 2x4 bricks are a clone... none of the other 13K + LEGO parts are a clone. And even then the Kiddicraft took the 2x2 and 2x4 bricks from other construction toys that had those.

Eventually TLG bought the Kiddicraft patents from the widow of Kiddicraft founder Hilary Page.

[Bamos]

I Have had parents ask me if other brands are compatible with LEGO at least once a month in my weekly searches. And then there are the parents following the child down the LEGO section carring a megablocks box telling them it is just as good.

Bill

[JopieK]

It keeps LEGO awake... same with Apple and other brands... people think Apple is overpriced, but look at their new OS X and Mac Pro... Competition is good for us, believe me... without competition LEGO will fall asleep, only think about money and not anymore about customer (so also AFOL) satisfaction.

[TheLegoDr]

It's good and bad for LEGO. It is like kleenex brand. Everything gets umbrella-d under the head brand. LEGO is coming out with great themes these days. They have nothing to worry about with clone brands.

[antp]

"Parents don't care, they know that this cheap LEGO is not as good a quality as that other LEGO, but they just want something cheap, it does not matter and this is what we sell most of."

When I was kid it was the opposite: when I saw clone brands with colors that Lego didn't have back then, my parents said something like "That's not worth it, it is bad quality, it is better to only have real Lego" :D So even if I didn't have a lot of expensive sets, I still had lots of Lego and no clone bricks mixed to my collection.

[Hrw-Amen]

I think that the thing that got me was the store manager was referring to the other clone brands as LEGO as well as the real LEGO, it was like "This other cheap LEGO." when I pointed out that it was not actually LEGO but a cheap knock off and that the 'Real' LEGO was the only actual LEGO they just shrugged as though they did not care or understand the difference themselves when they are the ones selling it. To the manager the cheap knock offs were still LEGO in their eyes, just a cheaper version.

[dr_spock]

It is no different than saying I cut myself, do you have a Bandaid instead of bandage or Xerox this document instead of photocopy. Brand names becoming part of common language.

I can see where lower price is better for the parents. If your child gets invited to a lot of birthday parties buying gifts can get very expensive. Same as inviting your kid's entire kindergarten class to his bday party, loot bags get expensive too.

[jonwil]

The real question is, if the clone crap wasn't available, would the parents be buying the real LEGO? I doubt they would, they would probably either buy the clone crap from another store that WAS selling it. Or they would buy a non-construction toy.

We as AFOLs may be purist and refuse to buy the cheap crap because we know its crap but I suspect for most parents, they know its crap compared to the real thing but they will buy it anyway because to get the same amount of brick content in real LEGO would cost 3-4x as much (which for parents who may not have a lot of money to spend on luxuries like toys is something they probably cant justify)

[kibosh]

I think most people need to buy the "cheap" stuff at some point. The quality speaks for itself. I have bought megabloks and bestlock before. it's horrible. The pieces just pop off from time to time. The color saturation just isn't there. And talk about too many big pieces with only one use. I think if people dabble in the cheap stuff, it will make them appreciate LEGO all the more in the long run.

[Peppermint_M]

It happens. I find here in the UK there is a lot less brand confusion and no ones says Legos, but I do come across a lot of toy shops that are unable to sell LEGO because of the rules TLG applies to retailers.

[Mr Bill]

Much as we AFOLs hate MegaBlox/Tyco/Kreo/etc, we must acknowledge that the competition from the clones is what led Lego to expand the commercial color palette (and perhaps even pursue license deals). If not we'd still be building in six colors. Not that there's anything wrong woth that (I love my classic sets despite the limited palette at the time).

--Mr Bill

[1974]

Do you have evidence of that, Mr. Bill?

I'm not really sure it keeps TLG 'awake' as they much bigger than their competitors, Apple is not

Anyway, LEGO=Kleenex, we just have to get used to that

I remember I had to really pursade my parents to buy me a Tente set (on vacation in Spain, that stuff hardly reached Denmark) as it was not 'LEGO' ..

Things are going swell for TLG in the upper part of EU, not so well in the lower

They should be (and most probably are) very carefull. It _is_ a luxury toy and will probably suffer quite a bit from the current economic crises

[Aanchir]

My worst toy shop experiences are any time I see kids debating with their parents about whether they can get a LEGO set and then eventually settling for a clone brand. Often, I find this is a compromise between a parent who doesn't want to spend much and a kid who wants a BIGGER set, whatever the brand. Whenever I see a kid begging their parents to get them a big set and it seems like a losing battle, I try and find a smaller set I can recommend as a good value for money. That way, the kid will end up getting a LEGO set they like and the parent won't have to worry about "caving" to their child's demands for expensive gifts. It's a win–win.

In general, it's important to remember that LEGO is an expensive hobby. I don't think it's wrong for parents or kids to buy clone brands if they're willing to settle for lower quality. But at the same time, as a devoted LEGO fan I try to recommend what I think will get kids the best building and play experiences, and more often than not that's authentic LEGO. Plus, once a kid has enough proper LEGO to know the difference, hopefully they'll be able to understand that greater quality is worth paying more for what is effectively a smaller toy.

[Paul B Technic]

People will buy what they can afford, as a coupe of people have said it might be a choice of a clone brand or nothing at all :(

[Hrw-Amen]

Oh I quite agree that people have to buy what they can afford and I have nothing against the more established clone brands that are building sets of there own, such as MB rather than just copying stuff. That is not the issue at all, it is simply the fact that there does seem to be confusion out there over what LEGO actually is and that in this instant it was from the retailer not the customer. I do get the general name thing that becomes part of daily life but i would not have thought LEGO as a brand was that persuasive in people's concepts to have become that entrenched as say a Hoover. Maybe I am wrong though?

[Venunder]

I have taken a look at a few Clone brands and a few have some quality sets.

For me the only one that comes close to Lego for all round quality are the Character Building sets from COBI.

However they have some larger pieces which look and feel a lot like Mega Blocks pieces, which are a bit of a "fail" really.

Kreo might come close to Lego in the future, but just now there is something that just does not seem right about Kreo. Maybe they need some other real life product lines to really compete with Lego.

Since we have the Hoover analogy, I think Lego will be happy to be the "Hoover" of brick toys, but I hope they also become/remain the "Dyson". :)

[whl]

Anyway,patents should be protected.

[Rook]

Not surprising at all. This why China is becoming the most dominate economy. Build crap and they will buy it.

[just2good]

You're lucky your toy store sells LEGO! The ones near me only sell clone brands!