legotownlinz

It's a pity because no competition means higher prices. 4D Brix was a profit-oriented company, not a community service. Same is TrixBrix. Many companies start as a community project, but once they start selling stuff, it must be accepted that there will be competition. Many of these companies are founded by brilliant technicians. They focus entirely on the technical stuff and neglect marketing, distribution, ... BrickTracks is going the same route: Almost perfect products, but reasonably priced shipping/distribution to any other countries than US is not solved.

Same for me, I have several TrixBrix parts like double crossings (R40, R104), three way switches and Y-switches. All of them work well and I wonder how the geometry could be bad if it is a direct result of the Lego system. Of course there's a certain degree of freedom in the details, but I can run the trains over TrixBrix switches as fast as over Lego switches, so there doesn't seem to be any problems and visually they look good to me as well. Regarding innovative parts, I've not seen the 45° curved switch in H0 track systems. But it is a TrixBrix exclusive, thus not copied from 4D Brix. Same applies to the new narrow gauge switches. My conclusion is that TrixBrix's business conduct is correct. Competitive in the sense that they use mistakes by the competition to their advantage, but correct. I see no moral reason not to buy from them. The only reason not to buy are better molded products from the competition. I don't buy anything 3D printed that is available or announced from BrickTracks as molded product.

I support your opinion, I don't get the point that TrixBrix steals ideas, they are competitors, they are faster and they are cheaper. And even better. Why is there a Parallel Track Switch and Continuous Curve Switch? TrixBrix has only one Switch that handles both cases. I estimate that it takes an experienced CAD engineer two weeks or less to design a switch for 3D printing technology. If a company announces a product for weeks or even months without delivering it, then it is no surprise that a competitor tries to be faster. I see no reason to wait for one year and it would not help the community either. For the community, choice is better. I don't see any innovation in the curved switches. The geometry is identical how it works for H0 track systems, too.

I'm sorry to to hear that and I'm sorry to hear that after making a few orders at Trixbrix. For me it was not clear that they are copying things. What exactly did they copy? It seems both 4D Brix and Trixbrix rathers copied Lego's track system than copying from each other. I don't think that making switches of two lengths and several types is copying, every company participating in the market for model tracks offers more or less the same products, that will also include Bricktracks and Fx Bricks. When I ordered the first switches (I bought switches only, ordered the curves from Bricktracks because I prefer molded parts where possible), I compared Trixbrix and 4D Brix and chose Trixbrix because they do not have the annoying yellow knob like Lego switches. I also remember that Trixbrix had some advantages for EU customers.

It is from https://www.fxbricks.com/downloads/FxTrackPreReleaseJun2019.pdf

For your Bricktracks products it makes sense to stay compatible with Lego of course. I'm using a large number of Lego, Bricktracks and Trixbrix tracks that I setup on the floor. Due to the size of my layout and the frequent changes ballasting the tracks is not an option. Nevertheless I wish the tracks would look more aesthetic and imho sleeper width, sleeper distance and sleeper color are the biggest issues. A better-looking track system would be a strong reason for me to invest in Fx Tracks, and probably many other people with PF and PUP trains. It would be a chance to sell the Fx Tracks to more people than those who use 9V. Putting tiles on 1-wide-sleeper tracks would be a good-looking solution, at least good enough for me. I tried to put 2x4 and 1x2 tiles on my existing tracks, but I it didn't look right to me. Regarding the connections, there are certainly solutions how to do it, it doesn't have to be compatible, an adapter track would be fine.

I wonder why they are doing 2-wide sleepers and not one-wide. They do a complete track system, not just add-ons for Lego's plastic tracks, so they could have removed all the shortcomings of Lego's track system.

That's correct, I knew there would be changes. Ideas set differ from all other sets in that people know ahead of the release what they can expect. Or what they believe they can expect. If the final set differs significantly, this causes emotions that would not be there if it would be some other sets. Hope this explains why some people are disappointed and express their feelings in this discussions. If there hadn't been the fan design and the discussion about the fan design, I would not be participating in this thread at all. I would buy or not buy it like any other of the hundreds of sets Lego releases every year, without commenting on it. But Ideas is special, the voting involves fans more than any other theme. At least my interest and my feeling for Ideas sets are stronger than for other sets.

60264 is a submarine and 60266 a ship. A helicopter is not mentioned, but as there is one in nearly every set, you might be lucky.

The modular buildings are based on buildings from different eras and look much more like actual buildings than Creator 3-in-1 buildings. The scale and style of modulars and Creator 3-in-1 is different, thus I would not combine them, at least not without modifications.

Generalizations are unavoidable in such discussions. We cannot discuss the preferences of thousands of customers individually. But we can assume that adults are more likely to prefer realistic muted colors than children. Of course there are exceptions. I would say the modular buildings are a good example of muted colors. Compare Creator Expert buildings to Creator buildings and the difference is very obvious. When I say muted colors I do not mean everything should be grey or brown. It just means to avoid too many too colorful parts. In the past, sets were more colorful than today and many colors were unrealistic. With the introduction of new colors, things changed over time. For example, train tracks are no longer blue for good reasons and castles not yellow. Play sets are still colorful today, but the designers limit themselves to a palette of few colors that work well together. Some themes are even limited to one dominant color, e.g. dark yellow for Jungle Explorers vehicles. Why should the Barracuda still use an 80ies color scheme when other themes don't? It could have been slightly updated, e.g. dark yellow instead of yellow and dark red instead of red. Or make some parts dark brown, flat silver, ... I think it would have been possible to evolve the color scheme without destroying the retro charme. It not a single color that bothers me, but the sum of many bright colors: Azure, bright green, yellow, red. The water could have been made with trans-light-blue tiles, it would still be somewhat azure, but less dominant.

Unfortunately we'll never find out how well it did as long as Lego doesn't release any figures.

A absolutely agree that Lego should target niche markets, to prevent loosing market share to competitors. There should be at least one large pirate, castle, space, train, ... set at least once per year. Doing a pirates set was the right decision, I just think that it could have been done differently. This set is too focused on fans of the 80ies pirates. I'd happily buy a pirates set if it is less retro.

Btw, that was me.

Of course there were many day-one orders. This set is 100% fan service, so it's no surprise the fans bought it. I was rather questioning if the set will appeal to casual customers and it seems to me that many of the decisions made to please the pirate fans are hindering sales to other groups of customers. The most critical being the box design that does not show the ship. Most people won't grab the box and turn it around. Second one is the design that is not well suited for display, unless it is a pirates display. But how many people actually have a pirates display?

Many people will buy it for sure. But how many - more or less compared to the average sales of Ideas sets? Imho there won't be a new wave of pirates sets in neither case. If they had planned a new pirates theme, it would certainly have a new story and a new color scheme and the Pirates of the Barracuda Bay would have use these, too.

The modular buildings are not the ideal series for a train station, unless it is a huge station consisting of several modulars. But we know that Lego will not do that. A standalone train station is more realistic, a Creator Expert set would be nice but in the end I'm afraid it will be City again. A Creator Expert train is overdue indeed. So far I withstood the temptation to buy a Bluebrixx train, but if there's no Lego train this year then I'll give up.

He was asked and claims he likes it. If your model has the chance to become a product and you get 1% of sales, what would you say? I would say "everything is awesome". It remains to be seen how well it sells to the average customer. The small group of excited AFOL pirate fans is too small to add significantly to the total sale. Without examining the box carefully it is not obvious that a ship can be built, thus it will be ignored by many children. Furthermore, today's young generation has no nostalgic feelings for the classic pirates nor for the color scheme either. Same applies to the typical customer who buys Lego sets occasionally. Adult customers will not like the color scheme that looks like a play set for children. There are many other sets that look more adult-oriented and will be bought instead. As we have seen in the discussion here, people have mixed feelings, especially those who are not into pirates but just wanted a large adult-oriented build with muted colors are disappointed. Which might be the majority of adult Lego customers. Don't assume that contributors to a pirate-related thread in a Lego forum represent the average customers. And finally, it is not a cheap set, potential buyers will think twice before making a purchase and the competition of other Ideas or Creator Expert sets is strong. Which raises the question: Who is supposed to buy the Pirates of the Barracuda Bay?

As far as I remember, nobody claimed that the baseplate is still manufactured and there is a common understanding that Lego will not produce it again. In theory they could, there are no technical reasons preventing it and it would add to the nostalgic charm. But nobody really expected it to happen nor did anybody say that Lego should do it.

It's not necessary to find counterarguments, there's no need to prove that other people's view is wrong. The arguments of both sides are valid. Lego made a decision and there are good reasons for it, but it neither means that it is the only valid or reasonable decision nor that all arguments against Lego's decision are wrong.

The base plate is indeed an issue, but it could be replaced by BURPs or other large bricks. And Lego also has the option to reject an idea if it cannot be turned into a set or cannot be turned into a set at a reasonable price. Stonewars did a poll regarding the design of the Pirate Bay. More than 2100 people voted so far and here are the results: 38% say that both the final and the fan design have their advantages and disadvantages 31% say the final design is better 30% say the fan design is better 0% say that they dislike both designs

Oh, that's great. Please share the file when it's complete. It will help a lot when MODing set!

I wrote my opinion, you wrote yours and they are not the same. So what? As far as my posts are concerned, I covered different aspects. If you believe that's 'ad nauseum', fine. But don't call for 'more positivity' if you write negative postings yourself. I criticized Lego, the Ideas team but none of the members here for their personal opinion. Because I understand very well that many people like the set.

The market has changed a lot since the early 2000s, especially the AFOL market. There obviously is a market for more sets, otherwise all the competitors wouldn't survive. I don't say that it is the right strategy just to produce more Creator Expert or Ideas set, maybe other business models work better like the Bricklink AFOL sets. Or fully automate Pick-a-Brick to allow ordering custom MOCs at a reasonable price. If you think I believe the set sucks then you misunderstood my point. It's a good pirate set, with a few shortcomings especially in the water and sand area and for an AFOL set a bit too colorful, but it is certainly within the top 5% Lego sets. I'm arguing that Ideas sets should be similar to the fan design.

I already own a company, no time for a second one ;-)