Snark

The Lego Movie sets have finally arrived in Australia, and I got the Castle Cavalry set. I used to love the castle theme back when I was a kid, and the idea of a space ship made out of castles is exactly the kind of inspired ridiculousness that I love.

I am genuinely surprised it took 40+ posts before someone had the good sense to point out that competition is generally a good thing for the consumer. There's this weird tribalism I find with a lot of Lego fans; it's not enough to just love Lego, you have to loudly profess your hatred of competitors as well. Personally, I like all three of the major brands for different reasons. Lego will always be No.1 in terms of quality, but Megabloks has some cool videogame licenses that Lego seems unlikely to ever target, and Kreo gets me decent quality bricks at a cheaper price. Also, those Transformer kreons are hella cute. But yeah, here's hoping that increased competition leads to more innovation and more competitive prices.

I've always thought brand loyalty to be a rather stupid concept as far as the consumer is concerned, so I just buy whatever appeals to me regardless of brand. As a result, my collection of bricks is roughly made out of 50% Lego, 30% Kreo and 20% Mega. And yeah, as Hrw-Amen mentioned, Lego is prohibitively expensive in some countries. If Lego wants to have a shot at generating greater market share, they're just going to have to bite the bullet and reduce prices.

Thanks for the answers guys. Good to know the new pieces are sturdier. Just one last question then, do the pieces grow brittle over time or through extensive use? I will likely be constantly taking figures apart and rebuilding them into new designs, so will that possibly cause any damage?

So Bionicle and HF have always been things I was interested in, but never actually got into. I'm thinking of taking he plunge into HF, but was just wondering, is there anything I should know before throwing money into this? In particular, I've heard that HF pieces have a propensity to break over time, any truth to that? Thanks.

Haha, yeah, ZoE was a ton of fun, I remember spending hours on ZoE 2. Any plans to make a Vector Cannon-esque add on for your lovely moc? It would be badass

Really nice, and I do love the working Zone of the Enders inspired cockpit and overall aesthetic. I do have to say it looks a little top heavy, the feet in particularly don't give the design an air of stability.

How did you do this? Are you a wizard?

I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I really want that Spock Kreon.

Without going into specifics, my department is working on something related to Lego at the moment. It's been hella cool, and I have to actively fight not to start geeking out every time we work on that file.

I live in a country where Lego is so prohibitively expensive that sets like the Quinjet cost literally 20% of my monthly salary. So please dont tell me Lego is a "little bit expensive." And no, I'm not a shift worker working minimum wage, I hold an LLB and a bachelors in commerce and work in one of the largest professional firms in the world. And while it's beyond debate that Lego is superior in quality, AFOLs generally exegerate the level of difference. Every Megabloks set I've owned has held up fine, and the MB bricks that I use in my MOCs have done the job well enough.

As someone who equallly enjoys Lego, Megabloks and Kreo, I've always found it rather odd at how fervently people here hate the alternative brands. Now if the other brands aren't for you, that's cool and all, but I don't think I've ever seen this level of scorn and vitriol ever directed at brands of childrens' toys before. To the best of my knowledge, Nerf fans generally don't hate Buzzbee, and GI Joe fans don't hate the myriad army action figures out on the market, so the contrast between such fandoms and this has always been odd. Frankly, I find the behaviors rather offputting and alienating, especially given that it was an interest in Kreo that brought me out of my so called dark ages.

I don't. Unlike Lego, I don't have to take out a damn loan every time I want to buy a large Megabloks set.

Apparently I'm a Purist, which is weird given that I actively incorporate Kreo and Megabloks elements into my MOCs.

Former corporate lawyer who helped large multinationals fire vulnerable employees and escape their contractual obligations. I later sought a more amoral profession, and became a tax consultant, specializing in corporate taxation and further specializing in the financial services industry, where I help some of the most ludicrously overpaid companies in the world save even more money.

For the most part, I think the minifigs from the super heroes line have been amazing. That said, I'm really not that keen on the black widow minifig. Her hair in particular, doesn't quite capture her look in the movie. So, does anyone know a hair piece that might look more screen accurate? Thanks guys.

There's an upcoming set with a Samurai X minifig. If you're not interested in spinners, perhaps you might want to consider waiting for that set?

Sorry for the double post, but I just found a report on upcoming Transformers Kre-O stuff. Looks like the line for 2012 is going to be as follows: 1) Decepticon Ambush - 4 Kreon pack with small accessories and a base to battle on 2) Cycle Chase - Prowl and 2 of his troops face off against a Decepticon, again comes with small accessory set and base 3) Kre-O Decepticon Helicopter - the robot with no name looks a lot like Starscream in robot mode and is yellow and red, comes with 3 Kreons and quad bike 4) Kre-O Stealth Bumblebee - new mold Bumblebee comes in black with 3 Kreons and what looks like the checkpoint from DOTM 5) Transformers Prime Kre-O Race Car Showdown - Knock Out and Wheeljack face off in this 2 pack each with the standard Kreons mini figure. 6) Kre-O Optimus Vs Megatron - G1 style set featuring an all new Optimus Prime vs G1 style Megatron who changes into a tank and not a walther comes with mini building and 3 kreons. 7) Kre-O Devastator - 9 in 1 playset - a mix of G1 style robots and movie tradition means you get 4 standard robots in movie Devy colours building seperate vehicles or the might Devastator - for those worried no he doesn't look anything like the hulking movie character. Comes with a slew of Kreons and construction environment. Fans of Transformers: Prime will be pleased to note that it seems as if TFP is going to be getting some love with the Race Car Showdown set, which features the rather boring Wheeljack against the flamboyantly gay Knock Out.

I seem to recall having played a part in advising you on purchasing Kre-O, if so, that's rather unfortunate to hear your kids didn't like it. Anyway, can't say I'm terribly excited about the Battleship line, though that could change if they make any sets based on the alien ships.

Words cannot express how ridiculously amazing this is.

For the most part, the 2011 and beyond sets are pretty decent. I recently bought a UNSC Falcon, and while the brick quality isn't quite up to Lego standard, it's good enough that building the set doesn't feel unpleasant. The set itself holds together great, feels solid and should survive rough play.

^ Goddamn, that is a meaty beast!

Like WilGibson said, the Bumblebee is far superior to the Prime. If you are able however, you might want to look into the price class above (Mirage and Jazz). They're not too much more expensive compared to the basic sets, and they come with the little Kreon versions of the bots, which from what I understand, are a pretty big hit with kids.

Easily the most interesting thing about these new Need for Speed sets are the licensing implications. Somehow, getting the license for Need for Speed has given Mega Bloks the toy rights to all sorts of car models from multiple companies. This would suggest that for whoever owned the Need for Speed franchise also held the toy rights to all these cars. Speaking as a lawyer, it seems bizarre to me that the owner of a videogame franchise would be holding the toy rights to the cars featured in the game.

Citing what Hasbro has stated isn't really what one would call, "jumping to conclusions." Don't get me wrong, I would quite like to see MLP and other Hasbro properties in Kre-O. But it's quite likely the 2012 line has already been planned well in advance, with that line consisting purely of Transformers. From a business perspective, this makes sense. Kre-O is a new product in a mature market with established competitors. It makes sense to focus R&D and marketing on a single, flagship line. Filling Kre-O with too many divergent themes in a short period of time runs the risk of confusing its marketing and image. Once Kre-O has really established itself, then Hasbro can focus on introducing more themes and licenses. That's because Lego already made public it's intentions to penetrate the girls' market, way back in early 2011. That doesn't change the fact that the girls market for construction toys has been superficially catered to, if not outright ignored.