Some thoughts after YEARS without a castle theme

[CobaltMoon98]

8 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

Sir, I had to read your message at least three times befor replying, and believe me, the first answer I would have given you... you don't really want to read that.

Then, since I'm here since ages, and you're pretty new around, I think I must be less cocky and arrogant, and more welcoming.

I don't know you, don't know who you are, why you're so angry and negative, but I can guess the reason: money.

First, let me say that I do appreciate the thought out response and efforts you have made to explain yourself. While your message seems pretty patronizing despite making claims that I am arrogant and cocky, I'm willing to look past that.

I understand everything that you have said. However, my issue is a basic economic one. Your methods would be fine if we didn't have a finite supply of the majority of these figures. My issue is the fact that every additional minifig purchased by an army builder not only decreases the supply but also raises the price for those who come after them.

I make a good amount of money and can certainly afford to buy the amount of Lego that I desire. I'm not saying that everyone should be allotted a set maximum number of minifigs in their collection (though I do think online PAB orders should have a limit) but I am saying that you must recognize that every minifigure you get is one less than someone else might get. I personally just think that there's no way the joy of one additional minifig for an army builder can match that for someone who doesn't have any yet.

If you wanted to remove the context and make it less personal, think of the housing market. Can someone choose to buy multiple houses even though they can only live in one at a time? Sure! Is it ethical to do so when that directly affects the availability of houses for those with less resources? Personally I would say no. 

I realize that this comes off as an attack for those who have chosen to pursue this form of collecting and I do apologize for that. I did not mean to be that hostile. I'm not saying I think that you're bad people, but I hope that everyone realizes that these actions contribute to the inaccessibility of the hobby for many. However, this is very off topic and I do apologize for opening this particular can of worms here. I'm happy to discuss my thoughts further elsewhere if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, guess we can agree to disagree.

[SirBlake]

29 minutes ago, CobaltMoon98 said:

True, we are unfortunately stuck in a capitalist system that rewards those who accumulate wealth, but that doesn't mean it isn't valid to critique those who buy so much that it directly impacts the availability and prices of the product for the rest.

You have to admit that the returns on every new minifig added to an army is diminishing and therefore 1 minifig has much more value to someone who has none than someone who has 99 already. Just because you CAN buy that 100th minifig doesn't mean that there aren't negative impacts on others because of that decision.

Simply put, it IS greedy to actively hoard that much of the supply for yourself when others don't have any or if that means the price gets inflated by 500%. If every army builder put just 10% of their armies back up for sale at retail price, it would barely make a difference to them but would allow hundreds of other people to get the minfigs that are being hoarded. Just seems selfish and antithetical to the ideals of Lego in general, but you're free to play the market how you see fit. 

Anyways, I realize this little rant on the ethical qualms of Lego hoarding is pretty off topic so I'll leave it at that.

Unfortunate? Lego wouldn't exist outside of a capitalist system. I don't know where you're located, but go hang out in a communist state and tell me how fair the Lego distribution is.

Your rant reads like sour grapes. I'm not rich by any means, and it requires careful consideration of what I can and can't afford. There's plenty I don't have that I would like to have, and that's just the way it is. I'm thankful for what I do have, and I'm not crying about "the system".

The way in which someone collects a toy doesn't have anything to do with greed. I certainly don't know you well enough to come to any sweeping conclusions, but based on this conversation, it appears that your worldview is poisoning you understanding of how things work. Seems like a bitter way to live.

[CobaltMoon98]

9 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

Unfortunate? Lego wouldn't exist outside of a capitalist system. I don't know where you're located, but go hang out in a communist state and tell me how fair the Lego distribution is.

I'd love to! It's too bad a communist state doesn't actually exist. 

9 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

The way in which someone collects a toy doesn't have anything to do with greed. I certainly don't know you well enough to come to any sweeping conclusions, but based on this conversation, it appears that your worldview is poisoning you understanding of how things work. Seems like a bitter way to live.

You're welcome to collect how you please. I guess if making efforts to ensure that this hobby remains accessible and equitable make me a bitter person, then I'm happy to wear that label.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

16 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

The way in which someone collects a toy doesn't have anything to do with greed. I certainly don't know you well enough to come to any sweeping conclusions, but based on this conversation, it appears that your worldview is poisoning you understanding of how things work. Seems like a bitter way to live.

This

 

27 minutes ago, CobaltMoon98 said:

I realize that this comes off as an attack for those who have chosen to pursue this form of collecting and I do apologize for that. I did not mean to be that hostile. I'm not saying I think that you're bad people, but I hope that everyone realizes that these actions contribute to the inaccessibility of the hobby for many. However, this is very off topic and I do apologize for opening this particular can of worms here. I'm happy to discuss my thoughts further elsewhere if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, guess we can agree to disagree.

You are again partially wrong.
There are ways, but you seem totally unaware of them, to get parts expessedly produced for you.
This means that if you didn't ask for them, LEGO would have not produced them.
This means that if I ask for them and pay for them, I'm just augmenting the supply, not fishing out of it, thus I do nothing "wrong" (assuming to your worldview) to anybody.

But let's stick this apart and steer back to "you take 1, you remove 1" for the rest, like collectible minifigures where my objection cannot rule.

I would invite you to reason on three points again.

POINT A) I'm not the one limiting the supply, LEGO is.
So, blame TLG for making less than you would like to. Not me. I'm just buying stuff. It's TLG deciding how many minifigures of a certain kind get produced. Perhaps since they control the aftermarket via bricklink, they LIKE this. So, they're creating good shortages in first place.

POINT B) I have no means in knowing who will get my spared minifigures.
Suppose I decide to buy 3 minifigures less than I would have liked to, to allow some people more have it.
It can be a kid who really wants that minifigure. So I did a good deed.
It can be a bricklink seller who pays $5 for it retail price and then sells it for $10 on bricklink and gets it sold the same day. So I did a mistake.
Since I do not know who's getting the next minifigure, and since I want it, I just buy it. The person before me would have done the very same. First come first served. That's life, there's no point in complaining.

POINT C) Afterall, there actually nothing ethically wrong, they're not food or medicines.
Basically, it would be being "less greedy" to allow someone else to be "more greedy"?
That doesn't make any sense to me. If that was food, or medicines, or houses (primary needs) I would perhaps have had a different opinion on that. 
But it's a luxury item. If you wanna play, you gotta pay. Comparing luxury items with primary needs items sounds pretty misleading to me.
My 2 cents.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Itaria No Shintaku

[icm]

8 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

There are ways, but you seem totally unaware of them, to get parts expessedly produced for you.
This means that if you didn't ask for them, LEGO would have not produced them.
This means that if I ask for them and pay for them, I'm just augmenting the supply, not fishing out of it

I've heard this is possible with LUGbulk orders for large registered LUGs, or for bulk bricks for Lego Certified Professionals, but this is the first I've heard where that's possible for a regular average online AFOL, much less for minifigures, especially desirable minifigures. Pray tell, how do you do that?

[CobaltMoon98]

13 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

There are ways, but you seem totally unaware of them, to get parts expessedly produced for you.
This means that if you didn't ask for them, LEGO would have not produced them.
This means that if I ask for them and pay for them, I'm just augmenting the supply, not fishing out of it, thus I do nothing "wrong" (assuming to your worldview) to anybody.

I would love to hear these mysterious ways of getting Lego to produce more for you specifically. 

13 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

POINT A) I'm not the one limiting the supply, LEGO is.
So, blame TLG for making less than you would like to. Not me. I'm just buying stuff. It's TLG deciding how many minifigures of a certain kind get produced. Perhaps since they control the aftermarket via bricklink, they LIKE this. So, they're creating good shortages in first place.

Yes, Lego plays a large hand in it, but that does not mean people amassing large quantities of the supply within hours of release do not have a hand in it too. It is easy to blame it on the big guy but we must all be aware of the part we play.

13 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

POINT B) I have no means in knowing who will get my spared minifigures.
Suppose I decide to buy 3 minifigures less than I would have liked to, to allow some people more have it.
It can be a kid who really wants that minifigure. So I did a good deed.
It can be a bricklink seller who pays $5 for it retail price and then sells it for $10 on bricklink and gets it sold the same day. So I did a mistake.
Since I do now know who's getting the next minifigure, and since I want it, I just buy it. The person before me would have done the very same. First come first served. That's life, there's no point in complaining.

Good point! In this hypothetical, you do not know who it is going to. However, as a broad idea this would increase the supply and drop the price, lowering the barrier to entry for all individuals. 

13 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

POINT C) Afterall, there actually nothing ethically wrong, they're not food or medicines.
Basically, it would be being "less greedy" to allow someone else to be "more greedy"?
That doesn't make any sense to me. If that was food, or medicines, or houses (primary needs) I would perhaps have had a different opinion on that. 
But it's a luxury item. If you wanna play, you gotta pay. Comparing luxury items with primary needs items sounds pretty misleading to me.
My 2 cents.

Another good point! I do agree that the stakes of the two are not the same as one is a luxury and one is a basic need. I simply made the comparison to further emphasize the moral dilemma. I could have likened it to things like PS5 scalpers who buy all of the stock on release for their own gain. While you are not profiting and don't reach this level of greed, it is again removing the possibility for others to get in at normal retail price when all stock has been removed. While you aren't detracting from someone's livelihood, there is much joy to be found in something as simple a minifig and I hate seeing the barrier to that become larger and larger due to others amassing large quantities.

Again, I appreciate your thoughtful points. I am certainly coming at this from the perspective of someone who has faced these inequities elsewhere and dislikes seeing them even in things as simple and mundane as Lego, which makes it more personal for me.  

Edited October 20, 2022 by CobaltMoon98

[Sir Dano]

5 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

There are ways, but you seem totally unaware of them, to get parts expessedly produced for you.

How do I get TLG to make me a bunch of small plumes in black?

[Itaria No Shintaku]

7 hours ago, icm said:

I've heard this is possible with LUGbulk orders for large registered LUGs, or for bulk bricks for Lego Certified Professionals, but this is the first I've heard where that's possible for a regular average online AFOL, much less for minifigures, especially desirable minifigures. Pray tell, how do you do that?

I am not allowed to tell, but, let's say I'm no regular average online AFOL. That, I believe, may answer.
Plus, what does you make believe I'm not into one (or more) large registered LUGs ?
Or that I'm not LCP?

Edited October 21, 2022 by Itaria No Shintaku

[Itaria No Shintaku]

7 hours ago, CobaltMoon98 said:

I would love to hear these mysterious ways of getting Lego to produce more for you specifically. 

[cut]

Again, I appreciate your thoughtful points. I am certainly coming at this from the perspective of someone who has faced these inequities elsewhere and dislikes seeing them even in things as simple and mundane as Lego, which makes it more personal for me.  

I think you're still missing a point. I do not like when this happens on primary needs either. Or, I don't like that in the world there are people that could buy my house with everything that's inside with their daily payroll (singers, actors, footballers, and so on). But on the other hand there's nothing I can do about it, nor I'm really sure that this is not envy because if that particular actor gains that much money it means that he's probably worth that sum. 

But I already showed you as for me, an average poor person compared to the average of the first world people, LEGO matter a lot and minifigure matter a lot, and I buy the quantity I can afford. If you, or any people having far much money than me, have less minifigures though wanting them, you have to find the way to do it. 

My final point is: if I can do that, probably everyone in the forum (and basically in the first world) can do the same. 
Then, since I think this way, my first thought when people will be judgemental over my passion for minifigures will always be "These people would love to have as many as I have without moving a finger. That's not how it works. I spent a lot of time, efforts, passion to reach out where I stand now."

I mean, there are more passionate people and less passionate people.
Did you look for an house with a specific room for LEGO upon renting yours? I did. The LEGO Room, in my home, is the biggest room in the whole house. It's actually 1/3 of the whole house. I share it with my girlfriend who has the same passion as I have. We met because of LEGO, as I attend more than one event per month, around 14/15 per year. I am registered to (and pay the annual fee to) 5 RLUGs and 2 RLFMs in Italy. I am a well known member of each, I have wrote not one but three LEGO Books published all over the world in 7 different languages as we speak, I'll bee in 10 days the only italian (shared with my co-builder) who will have reached 10.000 on LEGO Ideas for 4 different times with 4 different projects. I own a youtube channel about LEGO, and a Facebook page about LEGO, with thousands of subscribers.  I've met several times Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, and I have what I can call friends working for LEGO, but in the end, 14 years ago, I was just a guy who re-discovered his passion for LEGO. 

So, when I look behind myself, I see the road I've been walking. And what I can tell in the end is: I feel I'm very passionate about LEGO, and I've met people that are way more passionate than I am and spend even more money/time of their life with the LEGO bricks (and as soon as I finish this answer I have to sort parts, pack stuff and prepare for a LEGO event that's starting tomorrow on the Garda Lake, and while being there I must prepare the video that I will publish on the youtube channel. I will have NO time during this weekend for myself, and that's happening very often in my life).

So when in the end I see people judgemental about my collection and my passion, I cannot avoid thinking it's just envy/jealousy, because my path is open to everyone to follow, I just believe that many would like to be where I am now after 14 years, after 14 days instead. That's simply not possible. 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Itaria No Shintaku

[MAB]

6 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

How do I get TLG to make me a bunch of small plumes in black?

Buy white ones and dye them.

 

[MAB]

15 hours ago, CobaltMoon98 said:

First, let me say that I do appreciate the thought out response and efforts you have made to explain yourself. While your message seems pretty patronizing despite making claims that I am arrogant and cocky, I'm willing to look past that.

I understand everything that you have said. However, my issue is a basic economic one. Your methods would be fine if we didn't have a finite supply of the majority of these figures. My issue is the fact that every additional minifig purchased by an army builder not only decreases the supply but also raises the price for those who come after them.

I make a good amount of money and can certainly afford to buy the amount of Lego that I desire. I'm not saying that everyone should be allotted a set maximum number of minifigs in their collection (though I do think online PAB orders should have a limit) but I am saying that you must recognize that every minifigure you get is one less than someone else might get. I personally just think that there's no way the joy of one additional minifig for an army builder can match that for someone who doesn't have any yet.

If you wanted to remove the context and make it less personal, think of the housing market. Can someone choose to buy multiple houses even though they can only live in one at a time? Sure! Is it ethical to do so when that directly affects the availability of houses for those with less resources? Personally I would say no. 

I realize that this comes off as an attack for those who have chosen to pursue this form of collecting and I do apologize for that. I did not mean to be that hostile. I'm not saying I think that you're bad people, but I hope that everyone realizes that these actions contribute to the inaccessibility of the hobby for many. However, this is very off topic and I do apologize for opening this particular can of worms here. I'm happy to discuss my thoughts further elsewhere if you feel so inclined. Otherwise, guess we can agree to disagree.

Minifigure collecting is an interesting topic, as there are many different forms of collecting. I used to collect all the CMF (until I got bored with them as a whole) but I also collected army builder figures from them in quantity. The best (or worst, depending on viewpoint) I ever did was the S6 Roman, where I collected over 100 at one point. And it probably only took me 3-4 months to get that many, while the figures were out in stores and they were cheap in stores on on ebay. I always intended to use them in a giant scene but I never got round to it. Some were never even opened. I was finding I preferred smaller scenes as I simply could not display even temporarily a 1m x 2m scene in my house to do a huge army justice. When I buy CMF, I have to say I don't really care about others and their collections. Other people have the same opportunity to buy as me. If other people want to put the work in then they could have bought what I bought or they could have bought one of every figure. Their need for one more figure to create what they want (such as a complete set of CMF) is not any different to me wanting one more figure to create what I want (whether that is a small army of 10, or a large army of 100). Different collectors have different aspirations as to what they want their collections to be. They want one each of many, whereas I want many of one.

And sure, the joy of getting a first minfigure might  be higher than they joy of getting the 101st of the same one for someone else, but then they joy of getting any figure is probably high for them, If it is their first, why not get a common and less in demand figure.

Towards the end of my collecting all CMF ( I stopped around S12-14), I was buying them just because I needed them to be complete, rather than because I really wanted them. To me, that is more damaging than someone buying armies because they want them; that is buying as I felt the need to be complete rather than because I wanted them.

Minfigures are also very different to houses. I can use 10 minifigures at once. I can also use 100 minifigures at once. To equate them to houses, where everyone needs one, is wrong. Nobody needs a minifigure. And those that want a specific minifigure to add to their 100s of different figures is no different to me wanting another one to add to my 1000s of similar ones. Is the

Personally, I am not at all interested in armies assembled on a baseplate without any building. Especially photos and posts of the same minifigure on a baseplate, as they often come over a bragging. To me that is hoarding and often showing off of wealth. Whereas put the same army in a build, and it is much more interesting and creative. But the same is true of CMF collections. A display of every figure is not that interesting any more. There are so many now, they all just blur together. There is no more creativity in buying every minifigure in a series than there is in buying multiples of one figure. For me, the CMF were great for inspiring ideas. I used to build an 8x8 vignette for each one, inspired by the character. Sticking them all in a row on a shelf is not really different to sticking 100 Black Falcons in a row.

 

[jodawill]

Wow, this turned out to be quite a heated topic. I feel like some of the criticism may (or may not) have been directed at me for comments I made about the gray BAM knights, so here are my thoughts on the subject.

If you're able to afford more of something than someone else, that's fine. I think it's good for people to be rewarded for smart budgeting, hunting for deals, and producing a larger income because of their hard work or valuable skills I have absolutely no problem with army building. I've done it myself to a small extent. If I didn't have young kids to take care of, I'd be buying more and building large displays too. It's a lot of fun. I see the value in both large and small displays. Since I have little kids, building a large display is just completely impractical for me right now. So I've been enjoying building smaller things. I'm trying to build up a small army of each faction in anticipation of building more in the future though, and I have to do it while the parts are available.

The problem I have with the BAM knights is that a single person will just go into the store and clear out the entire inventory and leave none left for others. Imagine if you had someone in your town who loves to buy eggs for some reason. This person pays someone to tell them when eggs are back in stock, and they immediately go buy up all of the eggs every time there's a new delivery. Maybe this person has a valid use for buying eggs. Maybe they found it's cheap pig feed or something. Who knows. But no one else in town is able to find any eggs. If they do, they're incredibly lucky to get in before this guy buys them all. This person has the money to buy the eggs, and he wants them. What's wrong with that? Do you think it would be ok for this guy to clear out all the eggs at everyone else's expense?

I don't care if someone buys 5,000 of these BAM knights if they're available. If Lego would produce enough to keep up with demand, and someone with more money than me is able to buy a million of them, I don't care. They can spend their money however they want. When it comes to PAB, there's not even a way of knowing whether you're depriving other people by ordering the number you want (unless you're just buying the maximum on multiple orders until they're gone). But if you walk into the store knowing that these knights are hard to find, knowing that other people would like some, and you keep going in each week and clearing out the entire inventory, you're just being a real jerk. You should save some for other people. If you want 500 of them, either find a way to order a case for yourself (maybe the store manager can help you?), or buy smaller quantities over an extended period of time so others have a fighting chance at getting some.

Does this sound reasonable?

[CobaltMoon98]

1 hour ago, jodawill said:

But no one else in town is able to find any eggs. If they do, they're incredibly lucky to get in before this guy buys them all. This person has the money to buy the eggs, and he wants them. What's wrong with that? Do you think it would be ok for this guy to clear out all the eggs at everyone else's expense?

I don't care if someone buys 5,000 of these BAM knights if they're available. If Lego would produce enough to keep up with demand, and someone with more money than me is able to buy a million of them, I don't care. They can spend their money however they want. When it comes to PAB, there's not even a way of knowing whether you're depriving other people by ordering the number you want (unless you're just buying the maximum on multiple orders until they're gone). But if you walk into the store knowing that these knights are hard to find, knowing that other people would like some, and you keep going in each week and clearing out the entire inventory, you're just being a real jerk.

I think you've just conveyed my point way better than I ever did. I recognize that everyone can spend their hard earned money how they want and that army builders are not a monolith. People like Itaria here are very valid to have a slow build approach since this doesn't cause such a drastic drop in supply and increase in price.

The distinction I should have made is with all of the people who tend to just raid PAB/BAM or CMF figs, as they have a direct impact on the accessibility of the product for others. I made the mistake of grouping all army builders in to this category since I've seen way too many "snagged 100 black falcons today" posts right next to "when will they restock PAB?" posts lately and it's easy to see the direct impact that army builders (and resellers) are having on the stock of pieces and figs for people who can't monitor the PAB site all day every day. I've really just started to notice a trend in people who are putting profit or personal hoarding ahead of their passion for creation with Lego and it's sad to see such a turn in the hobby and community.

Anyways, guess my main point is just that army builders and people who buy up large amounts of supply in one go need to be more cognizant of how their purchases affect other fans of Lego. Next time they go to buy that 100+ minifigs maaaaybe they should ask "do I really need all of these right now?"

2 hours ago, MAB said:

Personally, I am not at all interested in armies assembled on a baseplate without any building. Especially photos and posts of the same minifigure on a baseplate, as they often come over a bragging. To me that is hoarding and often showing off of wealth. Whereas put the same army in a build, and it is much more interesting and creative. 

I think you've also nailed it on the head here. I don't have nearly as much of a problem with people slowly buying up a large amount of minifigs to put on a large build. As people have said here previously, some builds need it to look alive. It just really irks me when I see hundreds or thousands of highly sought after minifigs just collecting dust in someone's collections just because they wanted to flex their ability to do so. I think the initial "they're just jealous" comments is what reminded me of these sorts of folks, as it tends to come across as out of touch. For me, Lego is all about creation and imagination and these types of army builders just feel a bit soulless. Again, not a monolith though and I wish I had specified this before, as it is obviously not the case for everyone in this thread.

Hope that clears up my stance. I'd much rather talk about what we all have in common here rather than splitting hairs, so sorry for opening this can of worms. Happy building everyone!

[Dutch Thriceman]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:32 AM, Itaria No Shintaku said:

I have personally the belief that 90% of the people criticizing army building isn't at all caring for the realism or the actual impact. 
I simply feel there's much jealousy behind their words. Of course, there are also people genuinely not impressed or interested, but their thoughts are not seconded by the awe of people and mostly kids standing hours looking at the battle scenarios I usually make.

Oh no, I don't mean to come of as rude or anything (it is hard to read a persons intentions or mood through a piece of text), however I just think if you are going to build a huge army then making it something like this example which is still pretty huge with 500+ minifigs, but all of them are unique to a degree is much cooler then if that was 250 vs 250 nearly identical minifigs. edit* google for historical medieval armies, most of the (historic) art depicts very diverce and interesting looking armies, which the video I linked also proved can be done.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Dutch Thriceman

[MAB]

As I am both a consumer and reseller, I see both sides of the argument. If I want 20 of a BAM then I'll take what I can find. Not that I have ever seen that many of a sought after piece in BAM. If I wanted 20 then I'd pick 20 and if I can see there are still more,  I'd probably take them to sell on. Im not going to stand there sorting through them all, but if they are easy to spot I'd do it. Selling them on will make mine cheaper / free. If there was only 20, I'd still take them all. I don't go to a lego store much, so I wouldn't take 10 and leave 10 or take 1 and leave 19 for others to have a chance and have to return myself when I could have got them first time. It is similar when products go on a discount. If I see a shelf full of lego that is 50% off, I'd clear it. Leaving it for others to have a chance is leaving it for someone else to clear the lot. Everyone had the same opportunity. 

[jodawill]

6 minutes ago, MAB said:

As I am both a consumer and reseller, I see both sides of the argument. If I want 20 of a BAM then I'll take what I can find. Not that I have ever seen that many of a sought after piece in BAM. If I wanted 20 then I'd pick 20 and if I can see there are still more,  I'd probably take them to sell on. Im not going to stand there sorting through them all, but if they are easy to spot I'd do it. Selling them on will make mine cheaper / free. If there was only 20, I'd still take them all. I don't go to a lego store much, so I wouldn't take 10 and leave 10 or take 1 and leave 19 for others to have a chance and have to return myself when I could have got them first time. It is similar when products go on a discount. If I see a shelf full of lego that is 50% off, I'd clear it. Leaving it for others to have a chance is leaving it for someone else to clear the lot. Everyone had the same opportunity. 

I think this is where it becomes subjective. I don't think it's a big problem if someone buys the last 20 of them unless there's someone standing there who clearly wants to get some, then it would be polite to share. That's more like going to the store and seeing there are only three cartons of eggs left. You need three for your family, so you buy them. Compare that to a situation where there are 500 cartons of eggs left, there's a line of people waiting to get eggs, and somebody just pulls the entire rack out of the fridge and pushes it up to the checkout. It's been my experience that some BAM knight buyers are more like the latter. This is why I think Lego needs to set limits on BAM packs. Maybe 5 would be reasonable. I don't know. I think they should allow people to buy as many as possible without depleting the store's inventory within an hour. If it were up to me, I'd crank the production up to 11 and allow everyone to buy them by the thousands. But they don't, so the alternative is limits.

[Yperio_Bricks]

Wow, these BAM Knights really exist? Never saw one. If only i could get 2 or 3 since i have not a single knight. Or one of the other cool minifigs that i only know from pictures

[Time77]

22 hours ago, CobaltMoon98 said:

I'd love to! It's too bad a communist state doesn't actually exist. 

Nor can it... 

[MAB]

10 hours ago, jodawill said:

I think this is where it becomes subjective. I don't think it's a big problem if someone buys the last 20 of them unless there's someone standing there who clearly wants to get some, then it would be polite to share. That's more like going to the store and seeing there are only three cartons of eggs left. You need three for your family, so you buy them. Compare that to a situation where there are 500 cartons of eggs left, there's a line of people waiting to get eggs, and somebody just pulls the entire rack out of the fridge and pushes it up to the checkout. It's been my experience that some BAM knight buyers are more like the latter. This is why I think Lego needs to set limits on BAM packs. Maybe 5 would be reasonable. I don't know. I think they should allow people to buy as many as possible without depleting the store's inventory within an hour. If it were up to me, I'd crank the production up to 11 and allow everyone to buy them by the thousands. But they don't, so the alternative is limits.

There isn't a line of people waiting to buy the figures though. There is a load of people wanting them but they aren't in the store but they arent indicating they want them. If there were a load of people in the store all saying they want a specific torso from the BAM bar, then maybe the manager would do something to control it. Otherwise the staff will sell what people want to buy.

Setting a time limit would be very difficult as it means someone has to monitor each customer.  And if it is a race, parts will be dumped all over the floor in the rush to find the desired pieces. And remember that BAM parts are cheap items that are not individually monitored. So long as nobody is stopping others from using the BAM, I really doubt staff care if some parts sell faster than others. If they wanted to ration them, they can just put a small number of popular ones in at a time and drip feed them over the day or week. That wouldn't take long and they don't need to dedicate a member of staff to monitor the sales of a cheap product.

If there were 500 cartons of eggs and I needed 500 cartons of eggs for my business and there was nobody else in the store wanting eggs, I'd buy all 500. If they only had 250, I'd ask if they had more. If they say they want to retain stock on the offchance others might come later in the day, I'd jbuy the 250.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

On 10/21/2022 at 9:00 PM, Dutch Thriceman said:

Oh no, I don't mean to come of as rude or anything (it is hard to read a persons intentions or mood through a piece of text), however I just think if you are going to build a huge army then making it something like this example which is still pretty huge with 500+ minifigs, but all of them are unique to a degree is much cooler then if that was 250 vs 250 nearly identical minifigs. edit* google for historical medieval armies, most of the (historic) art depicts very diverce and interesting looking armies, which the video I linked also proved can be done.

Sorry but your video is showing a setting full of non LEGO parts.
So, to me, since it's NON LEGO, it's not in the topic.

[Dutch Thriceman]

2 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

Sorry but your video is showing a setting full of non LEGO parts.
So, to me, since it's NON LEGO, it's not in the topic.

You can do the same thing with purist LEGO too, the point is that it's a wonderful example of a realistic medieval army not whether it's purist or not

[Itaria No Shintaku]

30 minutes ago, Dutch Thriceman said:

You can do the same thing with purist LEGO too, the point is that it's a wonderful example of a realistic medieval army not whether it's purist or not

I don't think there is such a thing as "purist LEGO". I read this too many times and it's quite odd.
A purist is: "a person who insists on absolute adherence to traditional rules or structures, especially in language or style."
I do not "insist" on anything. We are on an RLFM. The L on RLFM stands for LEGO. So, whoever posts / relates to non-LEGO stuff is off-topic here. It's not me being a "purist". It's as if you joined a Ferrari club and you showed your Ferrari that has non-Ferrari parts. That would not make sense.

And no, it's not the same, for instance, that guy used a lot of shields and helmets that do not exist. So, he had all the LEGO diversity + the knockoff diversity.
Once you remove the knockoff diversity, you are very limited. You can do good work, but you're limited.

Plus, the fact that everyone wore a different armor or was very different depends on the battle.

This is a painting from 1385

I don't see people wearing super different armor.
This is from 1356

Same stuff.

So the fact that everybody wore a different armor is simply wrong. On some occasions, this was true. On some other, no.
So, it just depends, and making very similar Minifigures is not anachronistic or wrong. 

[woodford86]

Dude I'm just gonna say it, you need to chill

[Sir Dano]

Those aren't even knock-offs, they're just third party prints and pieces.

[MAB]

On 10/25/2022 at 7:09 PM, Itaria No Shintaku said:

We are on an RLFM. The L on RLFM stands for LEGO. . 

Isn't it a RLOC?