Lego Licensed Parts available from Bricks & Pieces

[Megbricks]

7 minutes ago, Bugbot20082 said:

Today I received an email receipt invoice for an order which had already arrived back in mid April :/ and I’m actually waiting for a more recent B&P order… I hope they haven’t processed the same order twice…

Recently happened to me too for two orders. They didn’t  process them twice in my case. They were just VERY late with those invoices

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

2 hours ago, Clone OPatra said:

You say things like this in most of your posts in this thread, but I really see no evidence of AFOLs moving away to other brick-brands besides you. Most AFOLs love LEGO the product, not the format of LEGO or the concept of interlocking bricks and parts.

People could lose interest in a hobby for a variety of reasons, but frustration with LEGO the company as it currently exists and moving to different suppliers of interlocking parts has got to be VERY VERY low down on that list.

So LEGO ruined one of its fun ways for people to directly buy parts. Oh well. It's annoying to me too but easy enough to learn to live without in the long run.

You are right I guess... It's my own projection, mixed with influence of my own social bubble, where AFOL's have "left" TLG and in the most recent time drastically. Probably has more to do with improvements of other brands and less with TLG themselves. They have improved in many ways as well; whether it's with new parts or better designs in general to appeal outside of the main market.

And in the grand scheme - "our way" of ordering parts is probably not significant and other brands providing this service doesn't hurt TLG.

Well - I can still hope they put some brain together for communications and transparency!



 

[Chopper Bricks]

Regular parts are listed again on the site, all as out of stock (12k+ parts). I guess we can expect the regular service to be back really soon :)
But as far as I can see, no recent parts...

Edited May 19, 2022 by Chopper Bricks

[karrit]

Good sign!  Hopefully once they get it up & running again they will start adding some new stuff.

[Maple]

1 hour ago, karrit said:

Good sign!  Hopefully once they get it up & running again they will start adding some new stuff.

     

My last two B&P orders from before the change over.

[MKJoshA]

In the US the service is still paused.

[timemail]

7 hours ago, Chopper Bricks said:

Regular parts are listed again on the site, all as out of stock (12k+ parts). I guess we can expect the regular service to be back really soon :)
But as far as I can see, no recent parts...

The "Standard" bricks never went away that I noticed. When the service was paused they were all changed to out of stock, and not removed. If you didn't use the button to show out of stock then it would have appeared as if they weren't listed.

I am in Australia - other country sites may have been different (although US and UK both had them OOS when I checked a couple of weeks ago).

[karrit]

On 5/19/2022 at 5:10 PM, Maple said:

     

My last two B&P orders from before the change over.

Well I'm trying to stay positive & hopeful that eventually we will be able to order some of the more desirable stuff again.  I have an incoming order that was placed right after the changeover but the one part I wanted the most from the order is still waiting to be restocked so not part of the shipment.

Edited May 21, 2022 by karrit

[Maple]

On 5/17/2022 at 7:39 AM, Clone OPatra said:

You say things like this in most of your posts in this thread, but I really see no evidence of AFOLs moving away to other brick-brands besides you. Most AFOLs love LEGO the product, not the format of LEGO or the concept of interlocking bricks and parts.

People could lose interest in a hobby for a variety of reasons, but frustration with LEGO the company as it currently exists and moving to different suppliers of interlocking parts has got to be VERY VERY low down on that list.

So LEGO ruined one of its fun ways for people to directly buy parts. Oh well. It's annoying to me too but easy enough to learn to live without in the long run.

That's because you are in the LEGO cult.

I'm in LEGO groups and there is a lot of annoyance over the useless chances LEGO has introduced. LEGO are like puzzles, they are fun to build. No one cares about the name 'LEGO' on a brick outside the cultists, they like the building experience and quality control.

However there is no longer quality control, the prices are insane and I know several die hard LEGO fans asking about what knock off brands on Amazon are decent quality.

[karrit]

My credit card has been charged for the Reddish Brown Horses I ordered with a bunch of other parts at the beginning of April and their order status is "in process" so they should ship any day now.  Still waiting on the two dementor legs/bases.  The rest of the order has arrived in the US and is moving through USPS currently so I should have it next week.

[zoth33]

18 hours ago, Maple said:

That's because you are in the LEGO cult.

I'm in LEGO groups and there is a lot of annoyance over the useless chances LEGO has introduced. LEGO are like puzzles, they are fun to build. No one cares about the name 'LEGO' on a brick outside the cultists, they like the building experience and quality control.

However there is no longer quality control, the prices are insane and I know several die hard LEGO fans asking about what knock off brands on Amazon are decent quality.

Do you know of  any knockoff brands that sell individual pieces like Lego does?

Lego has always been expensive even when I was younger.  My parents couldn't afford the big sets when I was a kid.  

If you want other brands have at it and Lego didn't say it PaB wasn't coming back.  

[Clone OPatra]

18 hours ago, Maple said:

That's because you are in the LEGO cult.

Ha ha.

It's called being a fan of something. If you hadn't noticed, you're on a website for fans of LEGO.

[Maple]

1 hour ago, zoth33 said:

Do you know of  any knockoff brands that sell individual pieces like Lego does?

Neither does LEGO anymore.

[Clone OPatra]

1 hour ago, Maple said:

Neither does LEGO anymore.

Except all the ones they do sell. And physical Pick a Brick walls. It's their prerogative which pieces they want to sell to people.

[Maple]

58 minutes ago, Clone OPatra said:

Except all the ones they do sell. And physical Pick a Brick walls. It's their prerogative which pieces they want to sell to people.

90% of LEGO fans don't live near a LEGO store. 

But go on defending LEGO's screw ups because... again.... cultist.

[Clone OPatra]

1 hour ago, Maple said:

90% of LEGO fans don't live near a LEGO store. 

But go on defending LEGO's screw ups because... again.... cultist.

You love to selectively read things. And selectively not answer questions. Why are you even on this website anymore if you hate LEGO this much?

[zoth33]

15 hours ago, Maple said:

Neither does LEGO anymore.

Yes you can just not all the parts there used to be is up on the site.  I think it's coming back in June.  

[wollolo]

On 5/19/2022 at 10:03 PM, Chopper Bricks said:

Regular parts are listed again on the site, all as out of stock (12k+ parts). I guess we can expect the regular service to be back really soon :)
But as far as I can see, no recent parts...

Those ~12580 out of stock parts had been on the site for several months now (at least here in Germany). So unfortunately thats not really a sign for anything.

Actually it got even worse since last week: instead of ~1400 "bestseller" parts there are only ~1000 parts left. (However, the site still shows ~12580 parts (including the out of stock parts), so maybe they just moved ~400 "bestseller" parts to "standard" list?)

Anyway. since I almost only do MOCs, this mess basically brought my whole LEGO hobby to a halt...

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by wollolo

[RichardGoring]

I wonder what proportion of parts orders have been from Pick A Brick/Bestseller vs Bricks & Pieces/standard. Given the relative limitations of the old Pick a Brick, combined with a relatively high cost per piece compared to buying a set (especially Classic), getting from Bricklink, or just marketplace/eBay/Craigslist bulk lots, it must be that Bricks & Pieces was much higher volume, otherwise the service wouldn't work for the MOCs that most people use it to create.

And given that they've just revamped the entire system and put a chunk of time and money into doing so, I can't imagine that it's going to go anywhere. Just pondering today after seeing more comments about whether it's been discontinued. I can't see it happening.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

On 5/21/2022 at 4:56 AM, Maple said:

That's because you are in the LEGO cult.

I'm in LEGO groups and there is a lot of annoyance over the useless chances LEGO has introduced. LEGO are like puzzles, they are fun to build. No one cares about the name 'LEGO' on a brick outside the cultists, they like the building experience and quality control.

However there is no longer quality control, the prices are insane and I know several die hard LEGO fans asking about what knock off brands on Amazon are decent quality.

What cult? Lego is simply available almost everywhere (well no longer in Russia I've heard). Most things they're pretty good at. But they don't offer all services which they could offer (ordering parts, accurate ships and planes) and some of their services aren't for me or other MOCers (most regular sets under 200€). Probably even the majority of AFOL don't care much about the exposed studs and colours of Lego sets. As a very colour and detail sensitive MOC creator I care.

As good as TLG is - other brands have made major improvements. The few places where TLG became worse (at least in my experience and according to some influencers like Jangbricks quality of parts is worse. I've never seen so many missing, missprinted, broken or scratched parts, especially windshields) leaves us with a hunger for something TLG or other brands awakened. Ever since dual molded arms and legs anyone (including myself) is obsessed because except for CMF's they are not used for most figures.

As you say, there is some movement to alternative brands. But as non are available internationally, I shouldn't repeat my guess, that this will have some broad effect. I don't even think alternative brands could handle a massive increase in sales while keeping their quality.

 

On 5/21/2022 at 11:06 PM, zoth33 said:

Do you know of  any knockoff brands that sell individual pieces like Lego does?

Lego has always been expensive even when I was younger.  My parents couldn't afford the big sets when I was a kid.  

If you want other brands have at it and Lego didn't say it PaB wasn't coming back.  

1. Yes: same (and other useful) parts, same (and other for colourfixed parts) colours. Ever saw Cobi? 100% legal, no knockoff, produced 100% in Europe, 100 % printed, they have plates with studs on the underside.

2. Unseeing the current inflation I think TLG is way cheaper - especially considering all the crazy new molds since 2015. Some parts they clearly took inspiration from other brands. But there was like 15 hairpieces - now we have an infinite ever growing number!

3. But they should be able to say what is and isn't. It's a huge company, they should be able to tell a dedicated community: "Because of factor X and Y we don't know when the service will be back but we are working on it and it could be between 1-3 months or it depends on this and that crysis on which we have no influence".

Or: "Because of reason X we don't offer figure and animal parts anymore sorry". It would be fine to make this decision. But it helps to communicate it. Other companies are able to do this as well.

The way it was communicated: "Heey we will fuse 2 services for parts and it will be so much cooler! Oh no, now actually we made it worse. Oh well let's shut it down completely without being clear on why, when and how it will return!".

Edited May 24, 2022 by Kim-Kwang-Seok

[zoth33]

2 hours ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

What cult? Lego is simply available almost everywhere (well no longer in Russia I've heard). Most things they're pretty good at. But they don't offer all services which they could offer (ordering parts, accurate ships and planes) and some of their services aren't for me or other MOCers (most regular sets under 200€). Probably even the majority of AFOL don't care much about the exposed studs and colours of Lego sets. As a very colour and detail sensitive MOC creator I care.

As good as TLG is - other brands have made major improvements. The few places where TLG became worse (at least in my experience and according to some influencers like Jangbricks quality of parts is worse. I've never seen so many missing, missprinted, broken or scratched parts, especially windshields) leaves us with a hunger for something TLG or other brands awakened. Ever since dual molded arms and legs anyone (including myself) is obsessed because except for CMF's they are not used for most figures.

As you say, there is some movement to alternative brands. But as non are available internationally, I shouldn't repeat my guess, that this will have some broad effect. I don't even think alternative brands could handle a massive increase in sales while keeping their quality.

 

1. Yes: same (and other useful) parts, same (and other for colourfixed parts) colours. Ever saw Cobi? 100% legal, no knockoff, produced 100% in Europe, 100 % printed, they have plates with studs on the underside.

2. Unseeing the current inflation I think TLG is way cheaper - especially considering all the crazy new molds since 2015. Some parts they clearly took inspiration from other brands. But there was like 15 hairpieces - now we have an infinite ever growing number!

3. But they should be able to say what is and isn't. It's a huge company, they should be able to tell a dedicated community: "Because of factor X and Y we don't know when the service will be back but we are working on it and it could be between 1-3 months or it depends on this and that crysis on which we have no influence".

Or: "Because of reason X we don't offer figure and animal parts anymore sorry". It would be fine to make this decision. But it helps to communicate it. Other companies are able to do this as well.

The way it was communicated: "Heey we will fuse 2 services for parts and it will be so much cooler! Oh no, now actually we made it worse. Oh well let's shut it down completely without being clear on why, when and how it will return!".

I get what you are saying but as with Maple it's nothing to get that worked up about.  I'm sure we will find out details soon enough.  If not there is always bricklink for now.  

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

1 hour ago, zoth33 said:

I get what you are saying but as with Maple it's nothing to get that worked up about.  I'm sure we will find out details soon enough.  If not there is always bricklink for now.  

It is what it is. Some are pissed to no longer get plastic sheeps for around 4€ per piece, I can't do my MOCs anymore without going to other brands. In the end it's a huge forum with a lot of members spending their time arguing about a lot of plastic 

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

In the end it's a huge forum with a lot of members spending their time arguing about a lot of plastic 

Check out the trains group and their thoughts on metal axles. Or pirates and rope pieces. Or maybe we can all unite in how frustrating the use of rubber bands can be? Especially when they fail...

[MAB]

8 hours ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

The way it was communicated: "Heey we will fuse 2 services for parts and it will be so much cooler! Oh no, now actually we made it worse. Oh well let's shut it down completely without being clear on why, when and how it will return!".

I've used bricks and pieces (or the replacement parts service as it was called first) since before it was online and you had to phone to ask about part availability. The search and filter options for the new combined system was a vast improvement over the old way, which itself was better than the phone only service. I don't think they shut it because it was made worse, just that they had a massive backlog dating back a couple of months.  To me, the only way it is worse is that it is easier to find and easier to use which means more people will use it. And this will hit processing times unless they invest in more staff processing the orders. It may also mean popular pieces go out of stock quicker and parts listed by mistake get removed quicker. It may also mean bricklink sellers find it harder to make money, which isn't a big deal now but might be in the future if people give up parting out sets if there is not enough money in the set overall when common parts don't sell so well.

[BrickyDwelve]

6 days left in this month in which service is supposed to resume anytime now.  I’m guessing, they will hold it out till the 31st.

Edited May 25, 2022 by BrickyDwelve