Horation

Typical rhetoric... Uhm actually opinions ARE sometimes wrong, that's the beauty of opinions, sometimes people think the earth is flat, sometimes they think it is a sphere, those are opinions, but you can't say that neither is right or wrong, they are objectively wrong : the earth is an oblate spheroid. Instead of replying to my comment, you ignore it, you must be a joy at work, your boss tells you "this is done poorly" and instead of explaining yourself, you tell him "it's my opinion, I'm entitled to it" So, let me get this clear, is it a ploy to sell more parts to adult collectors who (gasp!) have too many female heads in their collections, or is it A PLOY to sell more sets. It can't be both, because putting female heads WILL drive away some such customers. "Once diversity and inclusion start negatively affecting the bottom line" "I'm sorry, but I don't agree with ANY of this. FAR bigger problems in the world than what toy kids are playing with. My son doesn't need to play with Barbies, if you want your child to, thats up to you. But my kid isn't. For the record my daughter couldn't of cared less about Lego Pirates. have you EVER stopped to think that MAYBE, just MAYBE some of these so called "stereotypes" exist because boys DO like playing with dinosaurs, soldiers, pirates, knights, etc. While girls DO enjoy playing with dolls. It doesn't mean one is better than the other, just different. Boys and girls are DIFFERENT, I don't buy into this modern woke crap, sorry, I just don't. " I'm sorry, but I don't agree with ANY of this. Yes, FAR bigger problems in the world than what toy kids are playing with, but this is a toy forum, so that's what we are discussing. Your son doesn't need to play with Barbies, but if he wants to, that's up to him. But he doesn't want to, and that's OK. For the record my daughter couldn't HAVE (not "of", HAVE, English is not that hard for you Americans, is it?) cared less about Lego Pirates, so that doesn't mean that EVERYBODY thinks that way. Have YOU EVER stopped to think that MAYBE, just MAYBE, even though some of these so called "stereotypes" exist because kids DO HAVE PREFERENCES, that not all kids have the same preferences, and that's the point of these toys? Boys and girls are DIFFERENT, heck monkey males like trucks more and and monkey females like dolls more. I don't buy into this modern woke stuff, either, sorry if you want to paint me in such a light, I just don't. Now finally, I'm going to explain this opinion to you, because you don't appear to understand. SO BOYS AND GIRLS HAVE DIFFERENCES. Agreed, they are different, but what if a boy is different from other boys? What if a girl is different from other girls? Well, then they should get to be different, right? Well, that's where stereotypes kick in. These aren't always bad, but they always create an expected behaviour. So by showing to kids that men are soldiers (violent) or doctors (smart) and women are housewives and cleaners (weak and stupid), it creates a perception in those kids. Studies HAVE shown girls as young as SEVEN associate brilliance with men. So then what needs to be done? Not much other than depicting in all media a more balanced picture, show MEN and WOMEN doing certain things, you don't need quotas, just a rule of thumb, because these are going to influence kids, and having kids feel like they CAN be something can help. Now I can already see your reply : I don't care, we each have our opinion, we won't change each other's mind. So, let me explain what a debate is, in 50 words : It's about trying to convince the audience that you've got the right opinion, because the two debaters are antagonising one another, they are on opposite sides. Do YOU really think that presidential candidates debate to change each other's minds, NO, it is to convince others, if you won't debate, stop.

Nope, I'm not drinking any kool aid here, you are objectively wrong. Proof : they commissioned a study into gender stereotypes of their own toys, which found that their products perpetuated gender stereotypes, now I'm not "woke" at all, but this link was interesting enough to me. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/10/11/lego-remove-gender-stereotypes-toys/6087796001/ So then, you will tell me, the greedy businessmen decided to add female heads in historical sets so people like YOU would purchase extra heads. Fine, let's take that claim of yours that they had ZERO interest in diversity OR inclusion, that it was a PLOY. So, then, we agree it would be logical to use mostly male heads in regular sets and 50-50 male-female heads in historical sets, because that way, EVEN IF you buy a lot of other sets, you'd still have more male heads, right? BUT, that's not the case, as an example the new city space sets have a total of 12 females to 10 males, a nearly even ratio, weird, right? It's almost as if though this was being done in EVERY theme, to make kids feel comfortable with the idea that ANYONE CAN BE ANYTHING. So then why change it in 18+ sets? Because 90%+ are being sold to white men like you and me? That's going to REDUCE sales amongst women and young girls (let's be honest, a certain % of sales are to kids asking for these as gifts from their well-off parents). They are genuinely doing this to increase diversity, like it or not. So no, they aren't doing this to increase sales, they are doing a lot things to reduce costs and increase sales, that I agree with, but this, nah, you're the one drinking the kool aid of fake outrage (uhm actually, they drank flavor aid, just saying, common misconception). And to be clear, it is not the majority of people who don't want a bunch of female heads, to prove this, just look at online reviews, very few even care about it, it's mostly an "old grumps who really want a historically accurate army out of what is still meant to be a children's toy making little effort to be accurate anyways" problem. Also, let's get something out of the way, you are not mildly bothered by the heads, a 2 out of 10 shouldn't mean you HAVE TO replace the heads (P.S. I never said you HAD to replace the heads, I said that if the mere presence of female soldiers is a problem to you, you CAN purchase more heads). In other words, either this bothers you more than a 2 out of 10, or your definition of 2 out of 10 is really weird...

I honestly don't understand why y'all complain so much about female heads : are new male heads THAT expensive to buy? I agree that if you want to have more male soldiers you should do so, but it's not that difficult to go on pick a brick, find half a dozen designs you like, purchase say 10 of each, and there ya go, now you have a bucket load of male heads for 60 to 100$, if you can purchase large sets all the time, this isn't that bad, and you can always sell the female heads if you want... That's why people keep on saying it's about being inclusive or giving representation, because YOUR collection literally couldn't have included a lot of female heads until they started making varied ones, and many other people would have liked for THEIR collection since the 1980s to include female heads. Is it better then to a)include female heads and be more inclusive, which will make it easier for young girls to identify with the sets or b)include almost only male heads in such sets so that old grinches like YOU and ME can keep THEIR collection the same as in THEIR childhood And before you reply, keep in mind that these sets are just as marketed towards adults as they are towards kids, who oftentimes can't purchase extra heads, adults CAN do so for THEIR collections. Sorry for the rant, just tired of this topic popping up every time in modern discussions.

See in bold

Thanks for the mention! @Yperio_Bricks It was a fun collab I feel like this set's biggest flaw was the marketing and the its design ethos ; the set was clearly a giant playset, but marketed towards nostalgic adults, in other words it did not know what it was. The result was : 2015 style soldiers (with lighter white) and play friendly features (low walls making it easy to access the inside, the modular design, the office being next to the cannon, etc..) but also nostalgic elements (the black docks, the whole build's shape, the marketing for the set being "the whole gang is here", all the while not including all of the original cast of characters, etc...)

What shameful thing is done here? Purchasing to resell to those who missed out on the original run? Why is that wrong? Because he sold it for more than it cost him? What, is everyone supposed to run a charitable organisation making no profits?

This forum is suffering a slow death, so the only remaining users are the most dedicated ones, aka the most passionate ones, aka those that also complain the most. Brickset is much more representative.

???????????? What did I say that could possibly make you think I am angry, now I am thoroughly confused. I literally explained my opinion and instead of replying you just say this. Are you even trying to have an argument ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Adding these, the 2-3 Star Wars dioramas, the modular and the Ninjago city markets, that creates a 16 to 26 unlicensed to licensed breakdown, so I will concede that's a bit less than what I had initially thought, but the original claim was that Lego "focuses too much on Harry Potter and Star Wars and not on classic themes"(I can feal your anger while writing that, @DonQuixote) yet Lego made licensed copies of cars and even MacDonalds as far back as you look, with many licensing deals throughout their history, sure the licensed sets of the Star Wars and Harry Potter Style are more recent, but models of real world things (ex: USS constitution), aren't, and some of these are just bringing a lot more customers in than say, yet another castle would be. And if you think I am wrong, remind me again who's the 8 billion $ company, those historical companies or Lego? Just saying, maybe those executives know what they are doing better than the folks here... Also, we've gotten utterly off-topic here (my fault, I know), so I am done with this discussion, bye!

Not what I said, if it is a frictioned pin, it makes sense that it is meant to hold large models together, what I said is that if a regular brick has a tight fit, it is likely poorly made, source : worked in a company making injection molded products. Agreed

Wait I'm the angry one but you're the one that's so angry at a company that you advocate stealing from it...Lol P.s. I'm not angry at all, mildly annoyed is the correct term, Well, you are correct here, poor people in Bangladesh stealing a few bucks from a foreigner is a dilemma prone question, but one where I can't disagree about the positive impacts of. Bluebrixx is a German company, Germany is not a poor country [citation needed]. A business that can own a retail store at a profit is not poor [citation needed]. Such a business should therefore not commit intellectual property theft. But sure, I guess you can compare the CEO of Bluebrixx trying to make a few extra thousands of dollars to someone just trying to survive, those are...(checks notes)...fair comparisons? If I were given a penny for every false equivalency someone made in an online discussion with me, I'd have enough money to buy a sealed in box copy of the original cloud city set. The Black Pearl was designed for a Disney movie released less than a few decades ago, it is fairly under copyright protection. While those cities are under public domain, and except if you truly know nothing about copyright law, which seems unlikely, you have intentionally ignored those differences to make your argument seem better.

The adult market is even less licensed : only 2 of the icons range's 16 sets were licensed, and none were Star Wars of Harry Potter, add 2 Star Wars UCS sets, 2 similarly large Harry Potter sets, and you get a 14 to 6 unlicensed to licensed breakdown, so no, the adult catalog is just as diverse as the one targeting kids, but if you like historical stuff, and you don't want to create your own designs because of laziness, knock yourself out!

Oh, so if I don't like what someone does with their intellectual property I can just steal, it is good to pirate from people you don't like? Really? I mean yeah the sequels sucked, but I have never heard anyone say : this guy's a jerk, let's steal 10 000$ from him. By that logic, if I think you are a scummy person, I can steal your ideas

Oh, so you were sarcastically calling people who only buy Lego "scum"? again, they are so focused on Star Wars and Harry Potter that they end up making almost as many city sets (62) as Harry Potter and Star Wars COMBINED (49+20=69) in a year (2023). If you don't like their offerings, buy from competitors, you don't need to shout it from every rooftop. About Mouldking : The Black Pearl was designed by Disney, and they AREN'T being compensated by Bluebrixx, very honest...

The lighthouse was super expensive, partly because of Burps, and people seem to think each part is equally expensive : using one Burp and say, 25 parts to cover it up is about as expensive as using 50, 60 parts like they did, you're not freeing up any parts, you are merely reducing the parts count, which will make it feel like a worse deal, plus AFOLs don't really like such big parts, just saying... And let's face it guys : classic themes are resurgent "No It's Starwars and Harry Potter " Well, let's look at the facts : Fact : Brickset counts 922 sets for 2023, of which 158 are gear (ex: Keychains, licensed costumes, etc...), and 38 are books (magazines, etc...),, and they count the three series of minifigs as 54 sets, I shall count them as 3, so 675 actual sets Fact : Only 49 (7%) are Star Wars and only 20 (3%) are Harry Potter, so for themes that are such a priority, they only have them as 10% of their catalog? Bizarre Fact : Brickset counts 214 licensed sets (29%), but I did not count a few licensed Icons and technic sets, nor the 2 minifig series, so let's round to 30%, so even if you meant Licenses in General, that's no where near a majority Fact : the Largest theme, by amount of sets was Lego City, with 62 (9%). In other, classic themes are maybe not Lego's priority (nor should they be, kids don't want 1980s toys, they want modern toys), but Star Wars and Harry Potter aren't either, and saying the company is killing itself by making such a choice and driving away AFOLs like you (who don't appear to be buying a lot of products anyway) is a silly statement. I think that's the real reason

Jesus H Christ, I didn't think I was going to be taken so literally, sorry if I offended anyone, I didn't intend to. I wasn't talking about either of you, I was talking about German Youtubers in general, and I was a bit angry (counterfeiters once cost me a job, so....) and I made a hasty generalisation, I will therefore rephrase : Why do so many in the German Youtube community seem to not care about intellectual property rights? @Black Falcon I hadn't even noticed you were German @Toastie, partly correct and partly wrong, you said I seem to be getting out of my mind, I was already out of it, so partly correct, but that means I am not getting out of it, I already am so partly wrong ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Well the "comically large" crane has been almost universally praised for being much sturdier and more functional than the original, so that's one point where I have to disagree. As for the shore and the ramp, those could have been simplified, and the walls made taller, but then someone (maybe even you) would have complained about the undetailed ramp not looking rocky enough compared to the original, or the shore looking too simple, so it's a catch 22, while 10305 had a much larger budget allowing to avoid such compromises, I do think 10332 will be closer to the later and not 10320 (which was clearly a mishit-but suffered from being too similar to its inspiration, while 10332 won't have any 80s set to copy)

Well, the flying Dutchman and the Bluebrixx Black Pearl ARE illegal, PoTC is a disney license (and a fairly recent one at that, too), so while Lego has to pay millions of dollars to the License holder (and a fee on every sale)-which reduces the budget and profit margin, bluebrixx doesn't, but I never hear German youtubers complaining about that... So I am confident Bluebrixx had more money left over to improve the set...

Keeping in mind the parts budget, what should have been done differently to make it good?

Well, sorry I had merely assumed it was a fake, however if they haven't acquired the license for the build, it might still be illegal (except if the copyright has expired, but then why would Lego pay for the License from Accor?) They produce counterfeits-that's bad to me (does the German brick-building community not care about intellectual property as long as they get a few sets they like? I hope y'all do care) Brickset did a review of a Lepin/Mould King set a few years back, and it was of poor quality : missing parts, deformed parts, etc... And even forums supporting Mould King (ex: r/Lepin) will remind people of the poor customer service, occasional missing parts, bent or broken parts, etc... Yes, I did "experience" some of their products, I've said so before, the quality is p**s poor, albeit Cobi is just as good as Lego, I will admit (but case in point, it is another European company making their own bricks, so...).

You are talking about a counterfeit product here, and I've generally heard bad things about mold king (previously known as Lepin, which was found guilty of counterfeiting, by the way) Dictionary definition of hypocrisy.

This is because each theme gets a limited number of new part slots (storage boxes) per year in the factory, so a pair of printed legs means : 1 part for the unprinted right leg, 1 for the unprinted left leg, 1 for the piece connecting them, 1 for the printed right leg, 1 for the printed left leg, and 1 for the whole assembly, that's 6(!) parts for one half of a figure, and even if I assume they already make the legs and connector in those colours, that's 3 slots. If you want to print them on the front, back and sides (for printed kamas), you will need, as follows : 1 unprinted right leg, 1 unprinted left leg, 1 connector, and then you can print, but due to machine designs, you will need to turn the pieces between each print, so 1 left leg printed on the front, 1 left leg printed on front and side, 1 left leg printed on front, side and back, 1 right leg printed on the front, 1 right leg printed on front and side, 1 right leg printed on front, side and back, and 1 whole, counting just the prints and assembly, that's 7 slots, you could instead add 7 recolours, 7 new pieces, etc... And while in house themes get new customers, Star Wars sells well pretty much no matter what, and don't forget that a kid doesn't really care about the lack of new visor pieces, or orange blades, or bl**dy kamas(which make it impossible to make a figure sit down). Now YOU and I both care, but we are adult collectors, AKA NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE, people seem to think AFOLs and TFOLs make up most sales, we don't, period. And now you want them to invest dozens of part slots into these sets, so you (a minority of sales) can be a happy, in a theme that is seeing decreasing interest? From a userbase notorious for always being dissatisfied ("no one hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans"), now, if you truly believe that sir, well then you are crazier than me (and I'd like to think I am quite crazy sometimes).

Well honestly, that's where I disagree, the quality hasn't declined, your expectations have simply gone up. Modern day sets are often much more detailed and advanced than their ancient counterparts, arm, leg and back printing are far more common, there are far more facial expressions, etc... But people's expectations have just kept growing ; sets are supposed to be MOC level detailed, have prints EVERYWHERE, and cost less money than before despite a period of strong inflation and rising oil prices Competition is good, I agree with you, doesn't mean I have to buy from competitors...

From what I seem to remember, there were a ton of plastic brick companies across Europe in those early days, so it does not really shock me all that much that Lego's original designer was inspired by kiddicraft ; tons of companies were being inspired by one another at the time. However, and do correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember Lego being the first to add tubes to their bricks, making it possible to make larger and much sturdier designs.

That's a strawman, this user is (correctly) pointing out that most modern construction brick companies are directly copying Lego, and many copy-cats make outright copies of real Lego sets. Meanwhile you are saying that this is the same as saying that Ford are the only true carmakers, even though modern car companies tend to make fairly different vehicles (say, their SUVs and trucks look different). Also, someone can't be a copycat themselves just for using a product that is a copy-cat, that's a really annoying grammar mistake.

I'll have to agree with everyone else here, maybe add a patreon, I know Brikwars got over 30 supporters, and that's a tiny forum compared to this. Ads suck, and they slow down browsers, and I often regret disabling adblockers, even for useful sites like this one. Reviews are one way to do it (say, Jay's brick blog has an affiliate link under every review-even the fairly negative ones) Contests require funding to manage, and offering say, "50$ in XYZ products" is an easy promotional trick for said company, which might therefore be willing to do so.