anothergol

I'm not saying they would do have any interest in doing that, just saying they have the ability to. In fact I rather have a problem with them NOT willing to do that. Let's take a recent example: I needed the saucer (38799) in light grey, only appearing as 1pc in the expensive Shelby set. Result, while not expensive, BL shops only have a couple. But SOME shops, all in Hungary (safe to assume that Lego has factories there lol), have thousands! And that saucer in grey just doesn't wanna appear on B&P. So, as I don't wanna have to deal with expensive shipping and avg lot value crap, I bought a cheap small chinese set that had them (for less than a BL shipping price alone).

You could still question the legality (especially in Europe where the consumer is generally more protected) of BL now being owned by Lego, meaning that -Lego has "insider" (well ok not exactly because the info was already public before) price knowledge & can (& appears to) use that to decide of prices of items when they appear on their own B&P a few months later -totally controls the offer in a shop that's displayed as a legit "offer & demand, free" market (this could totally be used to deceive BL sellers as well btw. Lego can easily fake scarcity in B&P or PAB walls, get scalpers to buy in bulk, and then decide to flood the market. Any company can do that, but here Lego also owns the marketplate, that's very unusual). On top of being known not to be friendly with competition in general. Big software companies have been fined for less than this. But of course Lego parts is a niche-enough market. And I don't think that the Lego group has any interest in the pocket money that BL must be generating. I'm nearly sure they only bought BL in order to keep it locked to Lego items, where it could easily have been extended to sell the recent competition as well.

But that's for common parts, when the moulds get old & get renewed. As you said yourself, this part has only been produced in this color for the Game Boy. It's also a part (68516) that had only been used once before, in one set in 2022. I don't think the mould has been changed because it was "too old". So there are -already- TWO versions of this part, in the same (Game Boy) set, that's what I'm saying. And there's no way to identify it so you just can't order the better one.

well it's only rare because Lego is supposed to trash those parts but they're a normal part of the process litterally here someone's trash is someone else's gold lol

A friend of mine just built a GB, and I was quite surprised that hers did NOT have the "tits" buttons, the injection marks are a lot better located! That requires a new mould, or at least a change, and I don't think that different factories would have different moulds for no reason. So most likely LEGO fixed that on purpose. Now the questions is how to get them... surely they're not gonna have a different ID and getting them from BL or PAB will most likely result in the bad-looking ones.

Yeah it just happened lol. I believe it has to do with me just adding a new MOC. I mean it was just 2 days ago. Ironically it's just when LEGO is starting producing the kind of part my MOC was using (wedge tiles), only it's just 2x2 ones that they have released. Apparently you can't even mention Ali in comments, which is one of the best sources for those parts that LEGO doesn't do. And how is it other brands that are ripping off LEGO when it's LEGO that finally produces 2x2 wedge tiles that all others have had for years? Since I went ALL BRANDS now, that's goodbye Rebrickable for me as well I guess then.

they wouldn't, it's what you put on the studs that would so if those studs are to be avoided, well it leads to beams Yes that's what LEGO does, but think of it, whatever you attach with pins, even 2 or 3 of them on the other axis, will bend slightly, by design. The plates you attach to them though, can bend a little but they would most likely unstud themselves first. You'd then have to lock them on another axis using brackets, which is what LEGO does too. I've built the most solid frames out of 76766 brackets (which as a bonus cost nothing on BL, because for some reason no one likes them, or thinks of using them) sideways. They would break before bending, and not bend over time. (and yes they have technic holes so you may call them technic parts, and they're indeed locked using axles and round bricks) Meanwhile some official SW UCS sets are known to have bent over time.

It's not just about aesthetics, Technic is for action, it's designed to bend to absorb shocks, where as studded LEGO will disassemble or break. 2 different uses, and you get the downsides of both when you mix both. And I know LEGO uses Technic a lot for structure in studded builds, but it's not always a good idea. If you want a large, static model that isn't gonna bend over time, you probably won't go Technic, or you will at least avoid technic pins (the real weak, designed to bend, point between technic frames that are otherwise pretty solid)

Their sets seem to be very (too much IMHO) kids-oriented, with playability in mind. Certainly more kids-friendly than LEGO's modulars When I was a kid, I didn't have much LEGO and stuff was quickly disassembled to do other stuff... but times have changed, yesterday's LEGO spaceships would "break" in no time, make kids cry and result in bad reviews due to lack of "durability". Today's models are held together very well using brackets & technic parts, to the point that they're a pita to disassemble, because they're just not meant to be. I'm pretty sure that the majority of LEGO sets get built once and never get disassembled. But maybe I'm wrong.. I don't think it's the (re)building experience that kids are after nowadays, more the expandability/hackability. Also, in the 80's we could rebuild stuff that was on par with LEGO's own designs, that's not something a young kid can do today anymore.

Ask a kid if he made a decision based on "the fun LEGO experience" (while it's often dad who builds) or based on the promo pictures (here Lumibricks would win hands down, everyone loves lights & shiny stuff), the license (here LEGO would win, except for all the non-kids friendly stuff that kids LOVE, such as predator & stuff, which other brands DO cover and LEGO never will), or the minifigs (which is all LEGO should hang to IMHO). (and there's no way around wires, induction doesn't really "work", ultimately it's wires or no lights. Parts that act as connectors, they're necessary but they won't go everywhere. Lego would probably go with their own system & chunkier wires & plugs, I suppose)

You're wrong, Lumibrix & other brands are getting attention these days, I can't imagine LEGO NOT ending up doing lights. Modulars look kinda dull now in comparaison to, currently inferior in design, but fully (& well) lit third-party modulars. I'm also suspecting that Lumibrix is one of those brands that took care of avoiding still protected designs, aiming to be legally distributed in Europe (most of the Chinese brands that LEGO blocks at customs, are on Amazon, but from niche resellers, while the Lumibrix sets seem to be well distributed), and thus is a legit competitor to LEGO on its own territory. And a part to let cables part is a key element, LEGO will do its own but it's not gonna be that different (at the end of the day it's a hole in a plate) and lawyers will make great money on this.

The battle has started It's not in the customer's interest, but at least it will annoy LEGO.

It's frankly not that different, I have (genuine) parts in LBG with more variation than between LBG & old grey. And dark grey.. did not exist for classic space, so..

If you're thinking classic space, new grey is better anyway, it really is the "spaceship grey". I don't think anyone MOCing classic space stuff bothers with old grey. I don't know the story behind LEGO's change to LBG, but I'm assuming it was already "the standard" back then. If you buy a Star Wars kit, generally it comes by default in a perfectly matching LBG. I had read it matches a specific popular Tamiya paint, I don't know more about it. And even in brands that don't match LEGO's colors, LBG generally matches perfectly (except for Cobi!). If you're thinking castles, old grey did make sense but new is as good. Old light grey isn't that far from new and can sometimes blend, but old dark grey is pretty different and doesn't at all. And one may think it's a good idea to mix both for a "dirty" look, but something's just not right when you blend old & new, I've never had luck with that and never saw much where it did look good. And for old parts that don't exist in new colors, well sometimes they do! Other brands have preserved the system better than LEGO has, so you can definitely find old-style 2-3 prong hinge plates in pretty much all modern colors. They even embraced & extended that hinge system (which definitely had advantages). Old-style hinges and roller skates are my 2 go-to parts for extra details, while officially only 4276 ever made it to LBG (& isn't cheap). I've never found the iconic 4476b in LBG though. That's one part that survived over 40 years!

and a good part that you wouldn't get if other brands were protecting their designs patent trolling like LEGO does