Mega Bloks

[CP5670]

I have some pieces from a brand called PECO (that's what it says on the studs). I don't know where I got them, but those are the worst quality bricks I've seen and sound similar to what you describe. Many of them don't even fit together since the rubbery plastic is deformed. Megablock quality is gold compared to those.

I also have some from an unknown brand with happy faces on the studs, and another one called Atco (incompatible with Lego, but similar concept).

[the enigma that is badger]

But I can't see how people make such a fuss over megabloks but still happily buy brickarms...

Because BrickArms is a custom accessory business whose products are meant to compliment LEGO products, not replace them. A BrickArms accessory without a minifig is not unlike this situation. BrickArms has not or will it ever produce bricks or other building components that are imitations of or meant to compete with LEGO building sets.

(which recently caused all kinds of trouble for TLC

The Sun article, piece of poorly written and researched tabloid garbage that it was, as far as I am aware had no direct negative repercussions for LEGO (or BrickArms for that matter). As noted, the vast majority saw the article and other media coverage for the confused, obtuse, and inflammatory journalism it was and appreciate the building niche BrickArms fill with its accessories and custom minifigs.

While the overwhelming majority of my collection is LEGO product, I have purchased a few clone brands now and again, mostly for minifig accessories. Of all that I've encountered, the elusive Oxford sets were of the highest quality (especially the accessories). It's really the quality (or lack there of) of clone brands that turns me off more than the fact the brand isn't LEGO. If a building toy company were to start marketing sets that were compatible with LEGO, were of the same quality and aesthetic, and had elements that I could find useful in my building, I'd likely purchase them. As yet, that's a situation I have yet to encounter.

badger

Edited January 12, 2009 by the enigma that is badger

[Peppermint_M]

Well, I still resent having MOCs poorly rated for one Megablocks element when the same user had Brickarms akimbo on many highly rated MOCs.

I know that the Sun article (in fact, the whole Murdock family of media...) was poorly researched and a bit of rubbish, however, all the Sun's readers... Well, lets just say I have heard more than one parent tutting in the toy aisle about terrorist lego...

I'm not having a go at Brickarms, or defending Megabloks, I just think every facet of a story or situation should be researched.

[Corvus]

The thing that annoys me about clone brands is that they tend to copy other bricks than the standard blocks. For example, MB took the ball-joint from lego to use in their own action-figure(bionicle) line, Marvel figures....

[CP5670]

Because BrickArms is a custom accessory business whose products are meant to compliment LEGO products, not replace them. A BrickArms accessory without a minifig is not unlike this situation. BrickArms has not or will it ever produce bricks or other building components that are imitations of or meant to compete with LEGO building sets.

This actually reminds me of an interesting issue I have thought about before: what if a fan-operated business comes up that produces copies of discontinued Lego parts, at the same level of quality as genuine Lego (except for the Lego logos on the studs)? I have in mind things that are difficult to acquire today by varying degrees, like old gray bricks, train and monorail tracks, some of the rarer transparent space panels, some specialized Technic parts, and so on. As you said about Brickarms, they would be meant to complement TLG's products rather than compete with them. TLG could in theory manufacture such parts again but have not done so for several years, so they presumably have no interest in them. Personally, I think that would be a great development for MOC builders and I would be very supportive of such an effort.

The thing that annoys me about clone brands is that they tend to copy other bricks than the standard blocks. For example, MB took the ball-joint from lego to use in their own action-figure(bionicle) line, Marvel figures....

Well, they are free to do that. It's not like the ball joint was invented by TLG.

Edited January 13, 2009 by CP5670

[Jay]

Hello

I have been away from lego for nearly 20 years i used to work in beatties and toyr us and yes mega bloks where know as mega cr*p beacuse of there brick quality so in december i decided to purchase my first lego as was very impressed with it so i brought some more, Then christmas came and nephews from canada brought me 3 mega bloks sets ford gt40, steam express & mclaren F1 car, so i decided to build the 9887 "Steam Express" yes some bricks where a pain but overall i was impressed with design it was 1300 pieces and took around 10 hours it measures around 22"l x 4"w x 8"h

So i purchased some more on ebay, I perfer Technic's but the prices on ebay seem on the steep side for the sets that i would like,

Cheers

Brogusblue

Edited January 13, 2009 by Jay

[Zarkan]

This actually reminds me of an interesting issue I have thought about before: what if a fan-operated business comes up that produces copies of discontinued Lego parts, at the same level of quality as genuine Lego (except for the Lego logos on the studs)? I have in mind things that are difficult to acquire today by varying degrees, like old gray bricks, train and monorail tracks, some of the rarer transparent space panels, some specialized Technic parts, and so on. As you said about Brickarms, they would be meant to complement TLG's products rather than compete with them. TLG could in theory manufacture such parts again but have not done so for several years, so they presumably have no interest in them. Personally, I think that would be a great development for MOC builders and I would be very supportive of such an effort.

I would fully support a buisness like that, and I'm sure that many others here would as well. A buisness like that could be a lifesaver for MOCers who want to acquire rare parts that are extremely expensive.

[mania3]

This actually reminds me of an interesting issue I have thought about before: what if a fan-operated business comes up that produces copies of discontinued Lego parts, at the same level of quality as genuine Lego (except for the Lego logos on the studs)? I have in mind things that are difficult to acquire today by varying degrees, like old gray bricks, train and monorail tracks, some of the rarer transparent space panels, some specialized Technic parts, and so on. As you said about Brickarms, they would be meant to complement TLG's products rather than compete with them. TLG could in theory manufacture such parts again but have not done so for several years, so they presumably have no interest in them. Personally, I think that would be a great development for MOC builders and I would be very supportive of such an effort.

I don't know. As cool as that would be, I have an odd feeling about that. What if MegaBloks were to start reselling clones of these old parts, would you buy them? Or would you avoid them simply on principle, in favor of buying from a company who is intending to complement LEGO sets, as some claim Brickarms does? The philosophical repercussions of the clone brand argument are LIMITLESS!

[CP5670]

Well, you could also ask what is the difference between Brickarms and the clone brands, many of which include minifig accessories that don't exist in Lego. If anyone actually introduces copies of specifically out-of-production Lego parts and sells them individually, I think it's safe to say that they do intend to complement Lego. The only consumers interested in such products would be the Lego builders.

Ultimately, the brick quality would be the key deciding factor for me, in terms of strength, rigidity, color level, opacity and so on. I don't have so much of a problem with mixing different brands, but I tend to be very picky about mixing parts of different levels of quality or condition, more than most AFOLs. My views on this have changed to some extent during the last few years, largely due to the decline in Lego's own quality, and I am more open to third party parts (at least in concept) than I once used to be.

[Bricklanta]

I did get some megablocks for X-mas like 6 years ago, but I hated them because the bricks would come off.

[donneyboy]

I really hate megacrap, a I mean megablocks, I bought one set, for $1.00 at Wal-Mart, then I burned it. It was the best day of my life!!

Up with LEGO, down with Megablocks!

[the enigma that is badger]

however, all the Sun's readers... Well, lets just say I have heard more than one parent tutting in the toy aisle about terrorist lego...

If they are willing to accept what they see in The Sun as fact, I'd say their relative level of intelligence and intellectual curiosity speaks for itself.

what if a fan-operated business comes up that produces copies of discontinued Lego parts, at the same level of quality as genuine Lego (except for the Lego logos on the studs)?

If they were acting without the express permission of TLG, such a business would be violating TLG's intellectual property rights and be subject to possible legal action.

Well, you could also ask what is the difference between Brickarms and the clone brands, many of which include minifig accessories that don't exist in Lego.

BrickArms and all other custom accessory vendors produce ONLY accessories meant to compliment TLG products, never entire building sets that are meant to compete with TLG in the market for building toys. THAT is the key difference between custom accessory vendors and clone brands.

badger

[CP5670]

If they were acting without the express permission of TLG, such a business would be violating TLG's intellectual property rights and be subject to possible legal action.

This is only true up to a point, or we would not have clone brands today at all. Only a few of the old brick designs were covered by patents, and those expire after a period anyway.

You may be right about things like the train tracks, but old gray and transparent bricks would pose no problem.

BrickArms and all other custom accessory vendors produce ONLY accessories meant to compliment TLG products, never entire building sets that are meant to compete with TLG in the market for building toys. THAT is the key difference between custom accessory vendors and clone brands.

I'm not sure that none of the clone companies produce accessory packs. Brickarms can also be used equally well with the clones (many of which also have minifigs), and it could be argued that this allows them to indirectly compete with TLG in a way.

The "intention" of such products is open to interpretation and is probably irrelevant anyway, to be honest. After all, Lego itself was never intended for adults until recently.

Edited January 19, 2009 by CP5670

[prateek]

i use useful pieces

[Brickthing]

Despite Megabloks being the arch-enemy of LEGO, I've got two useful buckets full of glow-in-the-dark Mega-bloks, which work well for space engines. The problem with them though, is that the buckets also came with black mega bloks, which unfortunately got mixed into my LEGO collection once and took me forever to sort out from the real bricks.

[Comedy lover]

Gordon bennet look at you bickering like kids over "Clone Brands" ohh owning one peice is going to kill you , and the person who said he burns clone brands its a waste of money AND heard a thing called global warming i'm sure that Plastic Emmisions aren't good for the enviroment. ALSO all Clone brands are useful for something i got a good helicopter and a like SWAT van all in a set for about £8.00 i think it was that one someone was mentioning the swat one. uhmm but yeah stop acting like 2 year olds arguing about MINES BETTER THAN YOURS

[hollisbrick]

I actually have two bigs sets of MB! The only reason I bought them was because the Dragons line was pretty awsome I remember that it was pretty sweet!! I wish TLG would do something like that

And I agree with Grevious, the quality of SOME clone brands aren't too bad

[The Crazy One]

I actually have two bigs sets of MB! The only reason I bought them was because the Dragons line was pretty awsome I remember that it was pretty sweet!! I wish TLG would do something like that

And I agree with Grevious, the quality of SOME clone brands aren't too bad

I am ashamed to admit that the Dragons line actually tempted me , to the point i ALMOST bought one, but was saved from eternal regret when i saw Toa Vakama. Phew , that was a scary day for me.

[Legoman]

I really hate megacrap, a I mean megablocks, I bought one set, for $1.00 at Wal-Mart, then I burned it. It was the best day of my life!!

Up with LEGO, down with Megablocks!

Good on you!

I did a very similar thing once - just i didn't pay for it

It's really great fun (well - not for the enviroment )

[ProducePrincess]

I have an old megablocks space character with a grey body and white head and i actually use him quite a bit, I've even Nicknamed him Rebo-Robo .

I also got a mega blocks set a long time ago from a christmas party , it was just basic blocks with a few brick built figs and wheels . I found the quality of that set to be very poor , the parts would keep popping off of eachother and for a little kid at the time this was very frustrating.The block built figs were ok because i used them as aleins . I remember telling santa (or the fat guy in a suit ) that it isn't lego it's mega blocks.

Mega bloks is starting to move away from using bricks and is using much larger peices held on by a few studs so i wouldn't really call it a clone brand anymore , its just that Bad .

I gotta admit though some of megabloks ,and other clone brands have had some interesting ideas , like one clone brand actually beat lego to farm themed sets by a couple years . megablocks had a micro version of thier bricks witch i thought were kinda neat too.

I can't be too negative or hateful of mega bloks because it is a canadian company and they seem to be steering away from using actual bricks.

donneyboy Posted Jan 17 2009, 04:19 PM

I really hate megacrap, a I mean megablocks, I bought one set, for $1.00 at Wal-Mart, then I burned it. It was the best day of my life!!

I would have done the same thing but i don't have a lighter or matches and i can't afford a one dollar megablocks set at the moment .

Have you ever tried using a magnifine glass it's alot funner than matches

Le lapin noir

[JCC1004]

I'll admit to owning Mega-Craps before, but that's because Mom's can't tell the difference.

Me too, got her to stop.

I've seen some fake army sets with almost real looking figs, wanted to get it but, you know, it's fake. I want Lego to sell army sets.

Found some "Building Bricks" in Poundland today. £1 a bag of brightly coloured plastic bricks. They were neon pink, orange, blue and green. I was about to bu them when I noticed that a substantial amount were warped-ish and that the plastic looked more "soapy". Apart from that, the colours and shapes on offer were pretty cool.

Did you see the underside of those bricks?

[isaacbrockthebuilder]

Whats with those people burning clone brands Sure they're pretty bad but there are kids in africa that have to play with sticks and watermelon shells. they would be happy to have those nice western toys to play with

[JCC1004]

The mega-Crap fig change like every year. After Lego stoped using the soild legs and no arms, the figs only slightly changed inside the torsos and the stud on the head. The figs are worse then the sets. I saw a Spiderman 3 with some kind of strechy rubber for sandman's arms. The torsos are new molds and all have moidifed heads.

[Peppermint_M]

Did you see the underside of those bricks?

Yes, they were smilar to TLG's bricks, tubes and lines. But they looked pinched in at the sides, soapy plastic and poor connection.

Now, if you want to see real fake lego (if that makes sense) Reasonably Clever has a weekly Friday Fail, showcasing blatant Lego fakes that pretend that they are lego. Its all rather funny.

[Captain REX]

Whats with those people burning clone brands Sure they're pretty bad but there are kids in africa that have to play with sticks and watermelon shells. they would be happy to have those nice western toys to play with

Why is it people always make refrences to third world countries no matter how irrelevant in an argument? . anyways i have only ever had 1 megabloks set and that was because a friend gave it to me and i havent burnt or got rid off it because i dont want to risk insulting a freind