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That's a very interesting question for the folks in Canada. In the USA, pretty much everyone calls all LEGO compatible bricks "Legos". Is it the same in Canada? Are LEGO and MegaBlocks both used? How often?

This thread has turned into a very interesting discourse on toy industry and competition. Lord Admiral, Good point about the overlapping nature of the various toy markets. I think my initial scope of "competition" and customer decisions might have been a bit too rigid and compartmentalized. Your description of the difference between the US and other market seems to be spot on. CP5670, Spot on about the "casual buyer". While there are some folks who intentionally prefer the playset nature and scuplted figures of Megabloks sets, or the percieved value inexpendive bestlock sets, in general, the buyer who wants a high quality brick building set is going to buy LEGO, and there are alot of those buyers. It's the casual buyers -Grandparents, impulsive kids, and alot of parents- who I suspect are choosing Mega-bloks, and there are alot of those as well. Peppermint_M, Interesting observations about competition on a larger, historic scale.

Furious, Thanks for shedding light on that. I think you're probably right, or at least very close to the answer regarding Canadian prices. Ricecracker, I think that Furious is probably on the right track, but there are alot of mysteries about our noble neighbor to the north that I don't understand. One other factor I might add is that it could be partly economies of scale. If many more sets are sold in the USA than Canada, then that could make it easier for TLG to sell LEGO for less in USA.

Alot of folks here seem to be trying to discount the importance of MB as a counterbalance to TLG by saying that MB is not LEGO's biggest competitor. This grossly oversimplifies the situation. It is true that Video games are a huge competitor to the construction toy market, but it's not really proper to single out LEGO in that. The choice between video games and toys is one choice, the choice between various construction toys in another, and that is where a diverse selection of toys including Knex, MegaBloks, Lincoln Logs and others helps act as a counterbalance to the powerhouse that is LEGO. LEGO is clearly dominant, but when combined, there is an impressive amount of shelf space dedicated to the previously mentioned brands and others. These companies are LEGO's competitors. I freely acknowledge that the situation I describe is here in the USA, and might not describe the situation in all countries. However, note that in countries with much less competition (Europe, etc) they pay much higher prices for their LEGO than Americans do in a land where competition for construction toy dollars if fierce. Anyone who denies the connection between higher quality and/or cheaper products and their relation to competition is missing some fundamentals of economics. Without competition LEGO very well might keep the high quality that they are know for, but the customer would pay considerably more for it. Additionally, without competition, even the most well intentioned company does not have as much incentive to innovate and maintain quality. Yes, MB doesn't compare to LEGO, but be glad they and other companies exist to keep fostering the healthy competition that has produced so many brilliant LEGO toys.

I said Merchants. Not only because of the Merchant figure and his small ship were favorites as a child, but because in LEGO world where the pirates want to rob you, and the various Imperial powers don't have enough or big enough ships to protect you, it takes alot of gumption to be a merchant. Gotta respect that.

Time to get a brickshelf account my friend. Also, you can eliminate the hassle of resizing if you switch your camera to the 3M resolution setting when you take pictures for the internet. It creates pictures that are just under the EB recommended limits. Give me a call if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help you out.

Hmm, good point about a possible Hong Kong origin. I grant you it may be possible, but my bet is that Enlighten is as loose with their history as they are with Trademark and Patent law.

Wow, that's a very informative article, both about LEGO and Megabloks. I skimmed through it, but I'll be back for a deeper read later. I'll be disapointed if MB goes out of business. Competition is one of the best ways to keep quality and affordability up. Without compeition, it's the customer who loses.

Hey Larry, I had forgotten that you're over here at EB! Glad to have your clone wisedom over here as well. Interesting observation on the "double-pirates". I've got to disagree with you on one point however. I've heard you quote the longevity of Enlighten before, and I think that you've been taken in by some of their propoganda. If Enlighten Bricks was 45 years old, then they began producing bricks in the year 1964. That would mean that they got their start just before the cultural revolution. I sincerely doubt anyone in china was producing plastic lego knock-offs in China at that time. Me thinks it may be time to let that legend die.

When I build a set, and it has sat around on my shelf for a while, there are generally two ways for it to go. 1) It gets scrapped or canibalized for other MOCs, after which it will be sorted into my collection 2) It gets modded/improved into something I can use on my layout. There are exceptions, a few sets remain on display for a long time mostly because I haven't had a use for the pieces yet, and one or two small sets (the tanker from Town Plan) may make it into my layout intact. In my opinion, most LEGO designs are in some way limited by price-point and piece count, and offer plenty of room for improvement. Not to say they are bad sets -quite the contrary in fact- its just that we can make them even better. If this is your reason, then you should know that LEGO's intention has always been to have their sets be modified, destroyed, and rebuilt into something completely different.

Just so everyone is clear, whatever Stash says about LEGO Retail and TLG in general, trumps anything that comes from me.

Wow, this is really nice. I think I prefer this 1/4 minifig scale to the microscale versions I've seen before. Really well done, and it's great that you managed to make the floors modular like the original. The use of the Islander headress feathers is a stroke of genius!

Fenrir, I mostly agree with you. I have no use for this set myself, but if you wanted OD Green Bricks and a military brick playset, I think that this would be a fair option. Especially since it's less than half the price-per-piece of comparable LEGO sets. I think you misread the catch-phrase, it reads "Build a lot - PAY a little".

As for the store event, last year I got to the sale line early and scored about 800 bucks worth of half price damaged box stuff for 400 bucks. This year will be different. The word is that they might have a lottery wherby when they call your number you will be able to go in and pick a certain number (probably a couple) of the half off sets. After everyone has had a chance, there will be a free for all for what's left. If you bought one large set half off, you'd probably have your admission price back. Also, there are other deals to be had for paid attendees. Last year Brickarms and Brickforge each included 7-10 dollars of stuff in the paying member goodie bags. Also, this year there is going to be some sort of special value pick-a-brick on one of the non-public days and probably at the store sale as well. Finally, full attendees have a discount all weekend at any of the 3 Chicagoland LEGO stores. By the way, I live in Chicago, so if you're looking for places to eat, or things to see, shoot me a PM, and I'll help you out.

Yes.

The troll battle pack looks great. I wasn't particularly interested in the skelton or crownie battle pack, but I'm definitely going to pick up one or two of these. I'm not much of a castle builder, but I'd like to have enough trolls to make a MOC at some point. I think a Dwarf battle pack is very likely now. I do feel sorry for those who are hoping for an elf battle pack though...

Thanks for clearing up the Clone and Bootleg definitions. However, while this set is not a bootleg of LEGO, it very well may be a bootleg, or possibly a licensed copy of an Oxford set. I haven't compared the entirety of the Bestlock and Oxford lines, but a large percentage of Best-Lock sets are inferior versions of Oxford sets, notably the police and fire lines which are nearly exact copies. Bestock clearly uses the Oxford designed minifigs, and some of the specialty pieces are clearly Oxford designs. I voted for average because other clone brands like enlighten use printed bricks for thier camo, and the shoddy track construction is unacceptable. Keeping from getting a "poor" rating is the fact that like most bestlock sets, it's a great bargain for the number of pieces, explores a theme that LEGO doesn't and has alot of useful accessories. Overall, a very good review. I have a few of the Bestlock fire and police sets that were marketed under the "Just Kidz" Brand, and my experience has been similar. The copied-from-Oxford set designs are fine, and there are a number of interesting elements, but the quality is notably less than LEGO or Oxford (based on Oxford reviews). There always seem to be a couple of pieces that either fit too tightly or not tightly enough.

Yup, the discount at LEGO stores during the convention days are also only for registered attendees also. Sorry. On the bright side, there will be alot of interesting stuff for sale at Brickworld. While there are alot of folks selling stuff at "collector prices", there will be some deals to be had. I know of at least one returning seller that will have an enormous amount of LEGO for sale by the pound. I scored some great stuff from them last year.

I completely agree. There is a large difference between "talking up" what you have and lying about what you have I completly agree about the music, flash-bang, and "don't need", but that doesn't justify putting all the responsibility on the buyer. Yes, advertising plays up the positive and ignores the negative, but saying something is when it isn't is different. For example saying "works with LEGO star wars" is stupid and perhaps misleading, but is not wrong persay. Labeling an adventurers monster as a wompa is just plain wrong. Lastly, companies that advertise have strict guidelines they have to abide by. We should expect no less from ebay sellers. I couldn't agree less. There are plenty of people who can use ebay who may not have the depth of LEGO knowledge that we have. Additinally to say that it is not the sellers responsibility to know what they are selling is illogical, goes against a mountain of retail law, and is just wrong. If that's the case, than anyone can buy anything -as long as they don't know what it is- can call it anything they like, and sell it as such. Due dilligence is a legal concept that when applied to most transactions requires the buyer to do their homework, but also requires the seller to take steps represent their items honestly and accurately. After reading some of the posts in this thread, I have to say that I am disgusted at how may people have bought into the bankrupt idea that a seller is allowed to be willfully ignorant (at best) or just plain dishonest in the presentation of items for sale, and that it is the buyer's fault for being taken advantage of. If this is what folks think, then how are they representing the things that they sell? What we seem to have here is an inability to separate the various issues involved. Yes, the buyer should do their homework, check feedback, etc. However that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the moral question of whether it is right or wrong to mislead customers. It is wrong and we should have no hesitation in calling it so.

Wow. The level of "rediculous" is exceeded only by my level of jealousy! Great job, and kudos to you for your patience. Best of luck on your pirate village. One question though, where are all the cows, carts, soldiers and vendor stalls?

Very interesting. Thanks for showing this to us! I was only able to download part of one picture (your scans are huge) but it's clearly this game http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?G=921800 . In answer Johnwill, it appears that the whole game is a poster, and the playing pieces are bits of paper cut from the bottom of that poster.

You realize that a 1:1 scale is full scale, as in lifesize, right? It's been done. Here's a version from brickshelf http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=122844 . I'm pretty sure I saw an even better one a while back, but I can't seem to find it. Having almost exclusively right angles, it lends it'self very well to LEGO and its surprising that it hasn't been done more often. Here's a very nice miniscale version http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=RH

Great job to Bryan and the Brickworld Team! It's amazing that we are now nearly 100 attendees registered more than last year! I enthusiastically encourage anyone who's considering attending to get off the fence and register! It's going to be awesome, and I'm not just saying that because I've given my "Brickington" layout a major upgrade. Don't freak out, it's not too late for a perm and a mani-pedi.

I am very excited about this. Last year Brickforge gave convention attendees (full attendees, not public day attendees) a full set of space marine armor, a megagun and a minifigure to put it on. I've got mine on my layout as a dirt bike rider. Making a yearly purchase from Brickforge and Brickarms at Brickworld has become a little tradition of mine. I'm hoping someone will be selling little armory weapons as well.

I think it's definitley a crime what some of these sellers do. Not every buyer can be an expert in the product, and they count on an accurate description from the buyer. Grandparents, parents, friends, etc. Anyone who wants to get something for a LEGO fan in their life could be fooled. Little Timmy will know that the adventureres figure is not a wampa, but grandma who buys it for him probably won't, and probably won't know how to find out that it isn't before she buys. Misleading or vague descriptions may fall into a grey area, but incorrect or mislabled items are unexcusable. Sellers have a responsibility to correctly label their products.