People Are Stealing Legos

[kermit]

Lego larceny may be on the rise.

French police have been investigating an international ring of toy thieves with a particular affinity for the colorful, interlocking bricks, according to a recent report from The Guardian.

In this case, three suspects were caught taking boxes of Legos from a toy shop near Paris, with the goal of selling them in Poland, according to Le Parisien.

And it's not just Europe. Lego robberies have happened in the United States as well. Last month, a man in Oregon was arrested after local police suspected he stole $7,500 worth of Lego toy sets.

There's a lot of money in Legos. Lego sets come out in limited editions and they soon become collectors' items.

There might even be a whole black market for the bricks, Lego specialist Gerben van IJken tells Scott Simon on Weekend Edition.

"Well, that's very difficult to prove that there's a black market. However, there is an enormous amount of collectors out there who are missing out on certain sets right now and are willing to pay a lot of money for these sets," he says.

Van IJken is an auctioneer at an auction website for collectibles. He says the most valuable and sought-after sets are those in their original packaging, not opened yet.

 

For example — Lego Café Corner, a set released in 2007 for about $150, can nowadays run up to $3,000 if kept in its original condition, van IJken says.

Other sets routinely fetch thousands of dollars in online marketplaces. Some sellers are asking for more than $3,500 for an unopened set of the Lego Millennium Falcon.

Just like almost everything else in the world, the pandemic could be a driving force behind this phenomenon.

"Especially during the lockdown period, as we are in right now — it's still extremely popular," van IJken adds. "And Lego sales are still extremely high, not only in the Lego Company itself but on our platform too. We saw a 100% rise in sales over the past year."

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/03/983870097/people-are-stealing-legos-heres-why

 

[caiman0637]

r/facepalm

 

I'm pretty sure these so-called "criminals" are just overgrown children who don't know how to share. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by caiman0637

[MAB]

Nothing new.

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2010/02/10/lego-landmarks-taken-in-6500-vehicle-burglary-news/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/thomas-langenbach-lego-theft_n_1537781?ri18n=true

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/14/charity-founder-left-in-tears-after-theft-of-lego-bricks-for-sick-children

 

[JaBaCaDaBra]

There is no such thing as Lego's
 

[MAB]

20 minutes ago, JaBaCaDaBra said:

There is no such thing as Lego's
 

 

You are the only person in this thread to have used the word Lego's. They used Legos.

While it is wrong to call LEGO bricks Legos, it is also wrong to refer to them as LEGO. So someone saying they built a house out of LEGO is just as wrong as someone saying they built a house out of Legos.

[Peppermint_M]

People are steal, then they can sell it on. Especially the trade in Minifigures,

[AmperZand]

Fortunately, the culprits are easily recognised. They usually look like this: 

[AmperZand]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

You are the only person in this thread to have used the word Lego's. They used Legos.

While it is wrong to call LEGO bricks Legos, it is also wrong to refer to them as LEGO. So someone saying they built a house out of LEGO is just as wrong as someone saying they built a house out of Legos.

TLG would have you capitalise ‘LEGO’ and use it adjectivally for legal reasons. But both the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, while acknowledging the trademark, define ‘Lego’ as the toy itself as well as its method of assembly. So someone saying they built a house of Lego is using ‘Lego’ correctly even if TLG doesn’t like it.

I compromise by using ‘LEGO’ as a noun which is both right and wrong for its capping and syntactic function depending on whether you ask TLG or lexicographers.

[dr_spock]

A proper title could be People Are Stealing LEGO® Products. 

 

[1974]

7 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

People are steal,

?

8 hours ago, MAB said:

Nothing new.

https://www.brothers-brick.com/2010/02/10/lego-landmarks-taken-in-6500-vehicle-burglary-news/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/thomas-langenbach-lego-theft_n_1537781?ri18n=true

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/14/charity-founder-left-in-tears-after-theft-of-lego-bricks-for-sick-children

 

Also, the (less than) honourable Willaim Swanberg almost two decaeds ago ..

[BrickObsessed]

Anything of value will be stolen. Heck, I even saw kids who stole my snow shovel years ago.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, 1974 said:

?

Also, the (less than) honourable Willaim Swanberg almost two decaeds ago ..

Yeah, I forgot that one.

[Toastie]

LEGO, LEGOs, LEGO's, Legos. Lego's ... and I bet many - if not all - people know what we are talking about ...

What about TLG or TLC? Oh I know the big difference, but just for that matter: It's fine with me, as I know what we are talking about: The Gods of ABS.

So when I hear or read: "Hey LEGO, I want the old Lego themes back, and build with classic LEGO's rather than all these specialized millions of Lego pieces" - I pretty much can join the discussion, as the four letters l e g o are true chameleons ... not only color wise. But that is another discussion (BTW: I just had the family members sorting my weird color pieces, which is, for a medium color-blind person a miracle. I was very positively surprised, that many of the suspected "blue with some red added" (or vice versa) pieces were actually varieties of BLUE/blue.  

2 hours ago, BrickObsessed said:

Anything of value will be stolen

True. And value is of different value to different people. "Just for fun" also comes to mind. At least this is what I experienced.

Best
Thorsten

[1974]

Now hold on Toastmaster, you can't argue that LEGO's or Lego's are okay instead of LEGO bricks(parts/whatever, that just grammatically wrong

Also, it used to The LEGO Company (TLC) but it's now The LEGO Group (TLG). Unless you're talking about LEGO Holding, which is actually Kirkbi A/S. Which is part of concern of 19 companies. Kirkbi A/S also have two sub companies ... And then there's LEGO security, LEGO System A/S, LEGO JURIS etc

And a whole bunch in Switzerland that we don't talk about ..

 

 

3 hours ago, BrickObsessed said:

Anything will be stolen

Yup, sums up humanity right there

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, 1974 said:

Toastmaster

(Slight bow) Thank you for that compliment

1 hour ago, 1974 said:

The LEGO Company (TLC) but it's now The LEGO Group (TLG). Unless you're talking about LEGO Holding, which is actually Kirkbi A/S. Which is part of concern of 19 companies. Kirkbi A/S also have two sub companies ... And then there's LEGO security, LEGO System A/S, LEGO JURIS etc

Yeah: LEGO/Lego that is .

Personally, I like "Hey LEGO, are you hearing me?" the best. Which is of course different from: "Hey, LEGO's, are you hearing me"; the former is addressing the Gods (maybe while sacrificing a minifig) - the latter is - well - talking to bricks and plates not aligning up - legally - of course.

Best
Thorsten

[1974]

I have no problem people calling the company "LEGO" (or "Lego"), tons of companies are known for their (main) product and not the actual company name

But "LEGOS", "Legos" and with the ' makes my blood boil

[caiman0637]

In the book "Extreme Bricks," it said that this poor kitty was stolen from the world's largest LEGO house.