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[-] Blaze@piefed.zip 24 points 3 days ago

LEGO enthusiasts ( !lego@piefed.social ) are usually split on the "non-LEGO" compatible sets, especially since the basic LEGO patent went to the free domain. Some people think they're "fake", some other people think it's a way to still afford the hobby when the prices have skyrocketed

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago

My personal opinion is that if another brand can match LEGO's consistent quality I'd be open to it but as long as the quality of the individual pieces remains so freaking low it's not worth it (looking at you Mega Blocks!)

[-] Blaze@piefed.zip 2 points 1 day ago

From what I heard there are quite a few brands now that reached Lego's quality (indeed, definitely not Mega Blocks)

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Okay that's really cool actually! I remember back when I actually built with Legos there were some specialized pieces made by enthusiasts since Lego didn't have a good equivalent yet, such as steam locomotive wheels for example, or replacement 9V Lego Trains tracks, but those were all different than full on Lego competitors

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I’m more pissed about the proliferation of “non-standard” LEGO pieces showing up in actual LEGO sets. Things that aren’t standard windows, bricks, panels/slabs, wheels, and windshields. Kinda ruins the creativity of the set when there is some giant multibrick or custom curvature I’ve never seen before.

[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago

I'm conflicted. I prided myself as a kid on having exclusively on-brand LEGOs and always considered Megablox and such inferior in quality, aesthetic, "cool factor", etc.

But on the other hand:

Meme template captioned "Man, fuck patents. All my homies hate patents."

Plus I'm into 3D printing and like the "stick it to the man" aspect of 3D printing that might reduce people's dependence on serving some company's profit motive for things like shoes (Nike, etc), replacement parts (like parts for my washing machine, improving repairability), figurines (D&D miniatures, for instance), and, indeed, toys like LEGO-compatible pieces.

Maybe I should go 3D print me some Bionicles.

[-] Wxfisch@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Honestly LEGO really hasn’t increased in price very much at all over the last ~20 years. They run about $0.10 a brick in the majority of cases (I think they are now closer to $0.11, but it’s close). I don’t really care for non genuine sets since the quality/tolerances I have found never to be good enough, but if folks like them then great; but to say prices have skyrocketed is just demonstrably false.

this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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