Peppermint_M
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Posts posted by Peppermint_M
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It was a little while back when the 1x5 plate was introduced, they were trying to make it a LEGO exclusive part.
Granted, I have not seen the outcome of that one.
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Which is still pretty murky over "ownership" of the concept and design. They purchased the rights in the 80s so they could sue Tyco for making construction bricks, essentially to make sure the skeleton in the closet wasn't too loud when it was revealed.
Now TLG is going after fan goods, legitimate competition like Zuru and Cobi (note that they are not trying to take on and USA based brands now...). Then you add in the tribulations in Bricklink and it gets to be a case that for myself, someone who enjoys making my own things out of construction bricks (not needing a theme to tell a story, I can tell my own. It is a lot more fun.) that I am finding it hard to maintain what little brand loyalty I had.
I mainly stick to LEGO things so I can share builds without too much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the purists. With perfectly reasonable complimentary parts like figure accessories and custom prints.
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Unfortunately, unless you live in an area where you witness someone walking in and picking up all the stock off shelves, there is no proof that resellers are creating local scarcity.
The fact is, it sucks to miss a good deal, but there's no reason to blame others if you have.
Also, I think it is time the community gets over itself and identifies as Adult Fans of Construction Bricks, TLG is not as shiny and good as they market themselves...
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This is the best place to identify a part you need an ID for. Members can link you the bricklink page for the item once they ID it and that then has a listing for every set it came in. As Black Falcon said, it would mostly take more unique parts, perhaps something with printing or a still built section, or a Minifigure that could narrow it down.
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Not gonna lie, I think centuries of 13 being seen as unlucky is not going to be altered by a pop singer...
The set number thing sadly did not get me anything cool for my whole birthdate, it think we are a few years off hitting the numbers!
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Another, slightly long hand method, would be to sort each part to unique type and then count that bulk. Say "1 x 5 litre box of 2x4 red bricks." Or " 500g of blue 1x6 plates" Less specific, you could go off type alone, not colour. I don't really go in for that sort of cataloguing with my parts, I just have certain types sorted into large boxes and go from there. (Aka, 20 litre box of technic bricks. 17 litre box of plates 2x2, 1x2 and angled 1x2). Though, I should work to sort some of the larger boxes into smaller categories.
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I think MAB is on to something, products tested and certified by a respected official body to a very high standard often get accepted quickly in other areas outside of the scope of the testing body. As Bricklink is now owned and controlled by TLG, it should get a pass without too much pain.
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That right there is a YouToober desperate for attention and "engagement", the algorithm favours someone with a lot of comments and such. So a few dozen people coming in to call them an idiot is actually counterproductive. Or, they are doing a "bit" because they think they are truly a comedian.
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I wouldn't be against a reboot, but a new adventure with a new group would be a lot more interesting to me. Also, it would not be terrible to have environmental or fantastical obstacles or enemies. Living statues, creatures that are a lot larger than they should be, even the Ninjago method of monsters.
If there were to be a set along the lines of what Castle or Pirates had, I think a pyramid would be good, but a Palace from Orient Expedition would be excellent. I love the Egypt part of the theme, but I like all of it and I do build the Egypt things for myself, so a new Egypt set would not have the same appeal.
A whole CMF series wouldn't work, but it would be cool to have maybe a CMF series based off of the less "cornerstone" themes of the past, like a whole set of "easter egg" like figures. Series 16 had an Alpha Team styled figure, more of that would be cool.
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I will celebrate a source of new parts for building with and new figure parts to use.
The red panda is adorable, the sub-theme is neat.
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I purchased a whole box online, factory fresh. It came in while I was away from home this week, so it is now sat, teasing me to open it. The thing is, I have a few chores and errands first. Also, I promised my younger brothers (26 y/o and 22 y/o...) that they could give me a hand opening packs and making figures.
So I need to wait until they are able to come over!
Luckily, I have not yet seen them in stores, well, that I could buy! The Morrison's supermarket by my workplace had the box out a week or more ago, but I tried to buy a pack and it would not register. So they took it and the whole box back (I suppose it was a good job that it was me before work and not some kids during a busy period eh?)
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I was advised by a guy I know in insurance that a contents insurance should cover it to an extent. I make sure to record my sets on Brickset (just as I put my books on a database). It creates the record needed if the unthinkable were to happen.
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26 minutes ago, icm said:Edit - that's funny, I pretty clearly remember it being a Eurobricks review but I can't find it in the review archive.
If the photos went missing then it might not have been archived on any of the posted lists. I know so many sites going away over the years have hit both MOC threads and reviews.
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I have to remind myself I have been around a long time now, especially as a lot of active members these days were not here back in 2008, not to mention the memory I have for stuff, which means I can recall it for a post
So, with four years to go, what kind of build should I make to celebrate 20 years?
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Bonaparte was one of the early members and took on the site after the creator retired from running it. I know he has also created several presentations about the site; he presented them at both the Eurobricks event and once or twice when some of us staff were invited to talk with TLG staff about the forum. I will drop him a message and see if he still has his most recent (but still slightly dated now!) presentations to turn into something of a history of the forum.
I think real life responsibility has drawn him away of late, as happens to a lot of members over time.
A sort of short version of the history:
Eurobricks was created by @Jipay as a college/university project. At first it was mostly his friends chatting about LEGO but the forum gradually gained traction with a global membershipd as people moved from Usenet groups to forums, becoming one of the larger LEGO fan sites and possibly the largest non-focused site. Other forums for LEGO had the specific focus of Star Wars or Bionicle etc but EB encompassed all themes.
A Classic Castle forum had a big problem that took it offline and EB stepped in to fill the gap for members while it was repaired (I think it was repaired, this was a bit before my time) also, you may have noticed that the Pirates forum is something of its own entity. This is because it was a separate site that EB agreed to host when they hit difficulties, a safe port for the seafarers as it were
In the early years, Eurobricks was known as a source of all kinds of Leaks, which actually caused a little trouble for members visiting Billund once! The site had a reputation as the place to find preliminary images and set/theme descriptions. I joined a long while ago now (...16 years. Oof) and have been staff for 13 years now (double oof). That was around when Leaks were getting cracked down on to stop legal problems
. So we sort of stopped that, a lot of times I know EB would be cited as a source when it was actually someone just posting here, so it was a process. Then Disney got big in LEGO products; I think everyone can agree, no one wants to contend with the Big Mouse Company lawyers!
As for the forum on a whole, the structure has changed to account for new directions in themes, changes in the way LEGO markets itself that changes fan perception of themes etc. I came on to staff when Ninjago was introduced, it was not like the Castle Era Ninja sets, so Action Themes was created to house the random things.
There have been Blogs attached to the site, big contests that got notice from all the fans and even a newspaper journalist trawling through for quotes on LEGO things. Forum use has tailed off, but I know that Eurobricks has outlasted some formerly popular spots. We endure as best we can (Please allow ads, please, the site needs them to keep running....)
Anyway, that was a potted history. If I do get access to the old presentations, I will give them a bit of a re-format and update to post.
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You don't need two threads, you hardly need the one. I have merged them. The fate of this is now left for the Licenced Moderator.
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Stoked for an Exo Force mecha.
That is one of the more entertaining call-outs ever. Just stick a whole mech in there.
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There are some really cool figures getting a spotlight here. Once more proving to me how hard it is to choose!
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Just what it says on the tin. No wrong answers, just tell me why.
Is it a poor abused keychain figure that hangs off your bag and always makes you smile?
Is it the figure you took everywhere as a kid?
Is it a favourite character in minifig form?
A figure that you are building an army of?
I'm asking a question that I can't really answer myself
I have a lot of favourites and choosing just one is going to take some thought.
Also: non standard figures are permitted. From bigfig to the little printed "Oscar" figs. We are not doing a Bricklink though, so anything that is actually a construction (Cars, Giant Man or the like) isn't actually a figure.
Have at it!
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On 4/12/2024 at 10:22 AM, MAB said:And I bet nobody in the intended audience noticed the difference.
Literally no one. The work vans didn't even get new livery until the hire-period was up on the current fleet, then the new ones had the rebranded look. We still were told to use the stock of calling cards, carbon-copy certificate/service sheet books and our uniforms were a mix of old logo and new as no one was giving every employee a new set of gear for the sake of a new shade of green (at the scale on the uniform, you couldn't see any gaps in the letter...).
Essentially, if you want to make easy money, maybe become a brand consultant!
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The company I work with (Local Government for life BABY) recently went through a big and expensive rebrand.
They "filled in" the gaps in letter of the logo (one that previously had little lines cut from it in a style that "evokes speed") and tweaked the shade of green they were using. No idea why, it just means that I swapped a few graphic files for making naff posters (Raffles, team events etc).
Seems to be another one of the random "Brand energy" exercises big business likes to do so that they can catch a few headlines.
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16 hours ago, danth said:I don't think Star Wars is popular with kids.
Okay, you have also made it clear you don't like Star Wars. Me too! (It honestly used to be something people threw against me...) Literally, the last film I watched was Rogue One and I watched the Visions animations because I love animation (and the creators were actually able to do something interesting with the franchise).
However, in the scheme of things how would an unpopular franchise be so marketed still? We might not like it, little kids might not like it, but a whole lot of other people like it including the 10+ age demographic the sets are aimed at. If it wasn't working, there wouldn't be toys/EGO.
As noted by TeriXeri:
7 hours ago, TeriXeri said:DC seems to have faded somewhat, mainly doing Batman sets from 1989 and 1992 currently.
Personally, I would enjoy some not Batman centric DC sets, but only Batman seems to be the popular one with the kids so Batman is what is sold.
So yah, I don't think it is a fallacy to say that kids don't like the same stuff that my generation like as kids, or your generation liked as kids. Heck, I was born at the end of the 80s, I have younger siblings born in the 2000s and what they enjoyed was way different to what I did. Then time marches on, my friend's kids don't like exactly what my younger siblings did.
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It is also the case that the things that appealed to children when these themes existed, don't appeal to children as much today. Blame what you want (Internet, bad parenting, media saturation of life etc etc etc) but it seems TLG managed to create an original hit with Ninjago. I wonder if they can catch the same success with something else, let alone with resurrecting older themes.
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13 hours ago, JesseNight said:I guess I'm in the middle somewhat. I'd love to build more than to display, but I do like to display what I've built and my building time is just limited.
Ain't that the truth! I finally got back to creative building after a year of just figure swapping, joining a collaborative project gave me the kick to start again. Plus space in a place is never quite big enough.
Unpopular Opinions about LEGO
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Score one for common sense.
Considering how my reddish brown parts keep shattering, I was also thinking of switching to a more reliable source for those
Cobi and Zuru have nice finishes to their bricks.