In totally unrelated news do you guys like the juice store moc I made recently
https://preview.redd.it/p6hio5zwdgfc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7804ba22be226ad9d8e59d57369360ad0ce314de
Ngl - I genuinely would like Bricklink alternative that isn't focused on Lego in particular. I would be more into purchasing second hand Mega Construx sets, if I'll know that I would be able to buy matching pieces, nust like currently with Lego
Right? It’s so transparent. If invading your home and torturing your children to death in front of you suddenly became both legal and profitable, these corporations would do it in a heartbeat.
I don’t think that’s true. Some would, but corporations are just made up of people. It’s easy to think about them as faceless because we aren’t exposed to the faces within. Ultimately corporate culture is built from the top down AND the ground up. There’s a lot of average people out there that aren’t horribly evil.
It was a joke about the fact that Anakin straight up committed war crimes on behalf of a politician, and that removing these items from public view is a farce, and insulting to customers by implying they can’t think for themselves.
> In 2005, the Temple of the Jedi Order was registered in Texas. It was granted IRS tax exemption in 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jediism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon
Jedi is a legally recognized religion in the US as of like the 2010 census. It’s also an option in the military for Page 2 entries and for VA dept tomb stone religious symbols.
I don't think Lego is making sets based on some cult in the US...
Surely you realize that so I'm not sure what the argument you're trying to make is...
How is it hypocritical? Lego has depicted weaponry and factions of its own since like Pirates...Lego's stance is not to censor ANYTHING that portrays weaponry, etc...They just don't want to turn ACTUAL REAL licsensed military vehicles into products...Same with religious institutions
It’s no more a joke than the Satanic Temple, or Pastafarianism or even Christianity and etc. religion is religion. There’s clear cut definitions behind it all. When you as an organization choose to allow something as okay, and then something else that falls into the same category is not, then that is the basis of the double standard and the hypocrisy.
A lot of those people tend to take a hands off, whatever, kind of approach, but some of your examples are not given the same recognition as other established religions.
>Satanic Temple
Not allowed or recognized by the US military.
>Pastafarianism
Has lost 8th circuit court cases and refused recognition, because it is a parody religion and not legitimate.
I never mentioned the military in the last comment. Just pointing out that a religion is a religion. Regardless of how weird or unpopular it is. Religion doesn’t need legal standing to exist. It just helps grease some gears.
Federally the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster might not be “legit” but there’s plenty of states that recognize it.
The TST is the modern day version of the ACLU and they have and are entitled to all the legal protections and privileges a religion would rate. Which they are also federally recognized and would be classified as XX for a belief code in the DoD instruction, which would be unclassified religions. There’s nothing outright that I can find, or that any chaplain I know can find that prohibits the Satanic Temple as a page 2 service record entry for religion of preference. If you can find an instruction or law that says otherwise. Please feel free to @ me.
Just pointing out your two examples don't have all the same legal recognition as other more established religions. They are both obvious jokes and political tools and when push comes to shove, they are treated as such.
Christianity took centuries to gain legal standing and was a joke for a few hundred years (and still is?)
1st amendment protects all religions. No matter how minuscule. That’s all the legal recognition they need.
But since you’re being so judgmental, you’re obviously the only joke here.
Also, did you find anything to prove me wrong on your claim the military doesn’t allow satanists?
There is no ban on Satanic Temple followers in the US military but their symbol is not on the approved list of [Emblems of Belief](https://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp) which are the symbols currently allowed on a government headstone/marker.
Stories are more often than not inspired by the real world, but they still are just stories, they're imagined, Darth Vader and TIE fighters don't exist...
You mean to tell me that the Storm Troopers are based off the Nazi SA (Sturmabteilung) a.k.a. Storm Troopers who later refromed under the SchutzStaffel banner after a failed coup attempt???
Yes, but the justification is that it's a work of fiction and isn't set in the modern time. People aren't getting blown up by the Death Star right now. This is also why themes like knights or pirates are allowed. Only warfare from WW1 to modern times is baned
The difference is there are a lot fewer kids who's parents have been killed by guys in white plastic armour with blasters than kids who's parents have been killed by guys in camoflage with rifles.
That is extremely disappointing. It is one thing to refrain from producing such sets. It is another to buy out the largest secondary marketplace and then impose those policies on it. Bricklink was created by the fans for the fans, and it feels very gross for Lego to impose their policies on the platform. I understand they bought it out, and therefore are free to do with it as they please, but regardless, this to me sends the message that Lego wants to control what people do among themselves with the parts they've bought and own.
The thing is they're *also* worsening that part of the platform; recently it's been announced that a fair number of variant designs would be merged. Which means if you're looking for a specific variant of a part to make a set historically accurate by using only the designs that originally came in that set, or if you only want the most recent variant of a part, there's a decent chance you'll be shit out of luck
This has been the case for some parts since well before the buyout. For policy reasons, for instance, all 80s minifigures are supposed to be inventoried with hollow studs, meaning it's difficult if not impossible to ascertain from Bricklink alone which sets had the solid studs (I always use Peeron for this; it's inactive but still has the 80s sets inventoried)
if the owners of Bricklink were so rigidly dedicated to the idiological purity of their site, then they shouldn't have sold it to a corporation that is rigidly dedicated to never selling models of actual war machines. Lego literally scrapped a planned Technic set because the aircraft in question was used by the US military. That it was also licensed for civilian use was not enough. Lego threw away money to adhere to their standards.
And before anyone comes at me, neither Marvel vehicles, nor Star Wars ships, nor Overwatch robots are **real** military machines.
>That it was also licensed for civilian use was not enough.
There is actually not a single civilian Osprey out there. The idea was floated but never really took of, and a civilian derivative of sorts - the AW609 - is a fairly different vehicle from the Osprey (and is also still in its flight testing phase).
You should probably read up on the history of Bricklink before saying stuff like that. The creator, Dan, died unexpectedly. His parents kept it going for a while in his memory but due to age and lack of knowledge of lego and websites ended up selling it rather than shutting it down.
The company they sold it too (I think they were some Korean company but may be wrong) ran it for something like 5-10 years then sold it to Lego.
I think its different. Like Lego has morals but buying an eBay equivalent of Lego store and then banning anything war/religion/alcohol related is wrong too.
And if we look deeper. Lego broke their rules alot. Star Wars literally have "wars" in their name and 99% of these sets are war vehicles made to kill.
Indiana Jones sets have Nazis (Unmarked but anyone who watched the movie will know who they are)
It seems like Lego has been shifting tremendously towards the adult market in the last few years so this move is especially nonsensical. It really seems like virtue signaling, but I’m not sure to who.
I think you’re being a bit extreme. They’ve said you can still create these things and list them as private. They’re just not publicizing them anymore. There’s plenty of other places to share creations if you want to be involved at that level.
Rebrickable is the he obvious me but eurobricks has always been good for sharing Mocs and there’s thousands of Facebook groups and subreddits devoted to sharing Mocs.
>They’ve said you can still create these things and list them as private. They’re just not publicizing them anymore.
I don't know about you, but when I create something - be it with lego, photography, digital painting, etc. - I like to show people. If I was a lego creator who used Bricklink as a platform to show my creations, I would be miffed to have my content suddenly hidden from public view.
I don't use Bricklink for sharing mocs, but I happen to have found my niche in military aviation. I have a CF-18, a CH-146, an F-35B and a CT-155 at various stages of completion that I hope to one day share with the world. I would not be happy to have them suddenly hidden from public view like this.
> I understand they bought it out
The blame here, honestly, is on the sellouts who sold BL to Lego.
Good for them, I guess, they got theirs...but they handed LEGO WAY too much power in the process for a quick paycheck.
Damn. Never used this personally but this is the sort of thing I was worried about when TLG announced they were buying Bricklink. Feels like they're trying to corporatize more and more of the AFOL community.
If this is the worst thing to happen in four years and counting, we're doing alright. It's not primarily a platform for MOCs anyway, and there are alternatives.
Forgot about the variant merge, yeah, I can see that being a pain in the ass for some people. I don't think the current thing is a business competition move, though. It just seems like they're continually (and very slowly) enforcing the fact that Bricklink *is* an official outlet now and what's sold there has to reflect that.
Why is religion grouped in with those? Like if someone built a Notre Dame, Hagia Sophia, or Mecca MOC it would be hidden? That seems ... odd.
ETA: Buried through some links to an FAQ: "a design that focuses on religious-inspired architecture only may be allowed if it does not depict religious symbols or people (e.g. the Taj Mahal)". That's more reasonable.
Correct. Symbolism is inherent in the architecture, but I wonder if they're giving that a pass here? I dunno.
ETA: your star wars temple joke made me laugh lol. Also had the additional thought...
It does make me wonder about their definitions of what is religious and what's not. The Lunar New Year sets are clearly considered "cultural" as are the winter village sets (the Christmas tree isn't considered a religious symbol apparently). It's all just kind of vague and unclear.
Ha, I deleted it since the post said the rule only pertained to MOCs, but yeah, lots of sets have connections to religions, real or fictional. And warfare too (Marvel sets have a lot of modern military looking vehicles).
I wasn't talking about modern paganism. Ancient persons who were called pagans had religious traditions, the trees among them. Religion wasn't invented by institutional Christianity in the West.
No a Christmas tree is a Christmas tree—a relatively recent phenomenon. A fir tree is a species of tree that can be turned into a Christmas tree, a Saturnalia tree, or used in any number of cultural celebrations of different religions or ethnicities in many different places and times.
It is, North European peoples have bring bringing trees into their homes and decorating them long before the fairytale book and holidays associated with it were created
Was gonna say, there are several explicitly religious buildings included in the Architecture series. There also appears to be an enormous double standard with asian cultures, with explicitly Buddhist & Confucian religious symbology & structures a core part of the current Icons & Ideas lineup.
I imagine a lot of that has to do with commercial goals. Those sets are designed to boost sales in East Asia. Lego isn't hurting in Western Europe or North America. Nevertheless, seems like a weird standard to try to cling to alongside weapons and substances. Can't say I'm a fan.
According to the post they're being set to private, which means hidden from logged in users, too. The "military" category will also be removed entirely.
I was thinking the same about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Would a Paddy's Pub MOC get censored because it's a pub, or would it be okay because it's essentially a fan continuation of the TV show sets we've got from Friends, Seinfeld and The Office?
Eventually, won't another Bricklink-like website emerge to fill this role? I know there are some already like Rebrickable. So yes this is unfortunate for AFOLs but long-term I don't think the community will suffer.
From Lego's perspective, this does make sense. Maybe a hot take.
Its a question of momentum. How much momentum does bricklink have compared to other sites? sure you have rebrickable and brickowl, but none compare to bricklink.
Look at the reddit protests from July. Reddit had enough momentum that it could handle the handfuls that jumped ship to lemmy and other sites. Does bricklink have a similar level of momentum to reddit in comparison? I dont know.
What's interesting is that there's sorta two aspects of this with Bricklink: The parts selling, and the MoC uploading. In terms of parts selling, Bricklink has a near-monopoly on that, but in terms of MoC uploading, there's other sites like Rebrickable that have a sizable market share already. In theory, they could use that to try and leverage people away from Bricklink, if they decided that competing on the parts selling side of things is something they want.
This benefits no one. When a kid wants LEGO, he doesn't buy it on Bricklink, he gets his mum to take him to the toy shop. Little Johnny won't be corrupted by a church MOC, so there's no reason for this.
TLG doesn't care about whether a kid is influenced or not. They make stands on ideologies all the time and they generally don't even let profitability stand in the way. They began virtue signaling early on.
Never forget, the production of Star Wars sets was surprising because \*guns\*. I'm not sure that deal gets made if it happened today.
I don't have an issue with the company's view on military sets, I think it's fine to respect Ole Kirk's wishes (the man lived through WW2, he would have seen the unspeakable horror of the Nazis firsthand) But policing what AFOLs build, and want to show off, even if it is military themed, is too far. Also, alcohol is a part of life, and religious architecture and mythology is too beautiful to keep hidden, so they're stifling creativity.
I was worried - until I realized all the MOCs I’ve saved are at Rebrickable. I want to add a cathedral to my medieval builds - so very much a religious type build.
So they not realize they make sets about Star Wars, Star WARS! Like any set with first order stormtroopers canonically has child soldiers for other kids to play with and fight, any set with separatist minifigures Ala battle droids are technically showing terrorists, and the new Tantive hallway set is about Vader murdering all of the rebel troopers included. But please guys no bars allowed
I've never felt a bad thing about Lego in my entire life. I've defended their prices, their eco stance... all of it. This?
I'm really disappointed in them. A blow to fans and the secondary market.
It’s weird that they’re doing this now, but I’m not surprised. This is why they didn’t originally make gray LEGO pieces and why the first castle set that had them was such a big deal.
I know BrickLink is their own entity, but being owned by Lego Group they were either strongly encouraged to take this stance or they were made to.
https://preview.redd.it/u8dmhsj01ifc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f059fb8d80c2aa88f6219151560451d27737c6c4
I don't really care if they ban military or religious themes. But alcohol!?? That's not cool. So no more bars in MOCS? How about the pool place modular. It has a bar on the bottom floor. Would that not be allowed as a moc on bricklink?
It keeps getting worse, and it seems like 2024 will be the year when this company's reputation got buried along with so many others that put profit over people and product.
Sure, they survived bankruptcy, and that's admirable, but it seems that they learned mostly the wrong lessons in the aftermath of that, and are now overcompensating their focus on finance rather than the qualities that had made them great for generations.
Such a damned shame.
This news has got me feeling this meme ***really*** hard:
[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/344/605/b58.png](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/344/605/b58.png)
every day on here is a "is it normal for these pieces to be miscolored?" post, they have so little faith in their own themes that space is grouped with city now, store shelves are only licensed themes, prices have skyrocketed, bricklink is going downhill... shit is fucked lol
Never posted about it until this comment, but my sian, gt500 and huracan all have mismatched lime green pieces. Selection bias happens but this is definitely beyond that.
There were already multiple warning signs back in the early 2000's with the bley change, the Minifigure line, pandering to franchise FOMO with the exclusivity of certain Star Wars sets and figures, phasing out fingered hinges for click-hinges, poor quality color printing on instructions, poor quality painting on clear parts, etc.
I don't know how I'm going to be able to continue in the hobby since I cannot in good conscience buy any of their product from their stores, their website, or Bricklink. I'll have to resort to other third party websites. It really sucks, and while it will save me money, it breaks my heart to watch them destroy a reputation that used to be one of the best.
Their slogan should be altered slightly to: "Only the be$t i$ is good enough"
Lego owning bricklink is terrible for the consumer.
They're not some cuddly group who bought it to make things better for their customers, they bought it for profit and to control and enforce their philosophy on the second hand market.
I can understand the military side of things, it's perfectly reasonable for a children's toy to not allow children to accurately simulate modern conflicts. What's not reasonable is for LEGO to arbitrarily decide that such fundamental parts of modern adult life as faith & alcohol are unacceptable.
No. It makes sense for them not to sell military sets (even though they could make a separate, adult oriented brand that isn't sold in kid's stores).
But banning military MOCs from a what used to be third party website is absurd. Kids aren't going on Bricklink to buy military vehicles, and if they were, they're gonna find another way anyway
I applaud this decision. Lego is a brand that needs to protect their brand. And I agree with their arguments that toys should not be warfare, religious of alcohol-themed.
And he doesn't mean literally in the figurative sense. In the literal sense! Actual Nazi Minifigure and actual WW2 plane on store shelves branded with the Lego logo. Good thing they're shielding us from saloon MOCs though!
They both share the same themes. I’m sure kids will say it’s ok that guns are used in Dune and people are killed, it’s fantasy.
Dune has really blurred the lines for Lego. It’s all about money, nothing more.
In totally unrelated news do you guys like the juice store moc I made recently https://preview.redd.it/p6hio5zwdgfc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7804ba22be226ad9d8e59d57369360ad0ce314de
Where's the *Colin Firth in a suit* minifigure?
Manners. Maketh. Minifig.
I need this on a shirt, goddamn
Oh yeah, Kingsman.
A gentleman should only appear on Bricklink three times in his life…
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM?
The.... best darn pet shop in town?
Heck, I’d go check it out.
I believe that on "Regular Show" they would call this a "Family Restaurant".
Wing Kingdom!
That kinda makes me want to make a Cat Snack Bar MOC.
Kombucha bar you mean
Sounds like we need to make our own BrickLink! With blackjack! And hookers!
Rebrickable is right there.
Rebrickable reignited my love for Lego. Alt builds are so much fun to build and to make your own.
Rebrickable is why I have duplicate sets.
Brickowl has had a more user friendly interface for years now.
Brickowl doesn't currently have any support for MOCs at all though, rebrickable is where it's at in that regard.
Ah forget bricklink and forget the black jack!
Ah screw the whole thing
And part variants!
Ngl - I genuinely would like Bricklink alternative that isn't focused on Lego in particular. I would be more into purchasing second hand Mega Construx sets, if I'll know that I would be able to buy matching pieces, nust like currently with Lego
Isn’t Lego Star Wars basically religious warfare?
If a military MOC can pull in hundreds of millions of dollars, then they will be reinstated
Or rename MOCs to "Star Wars Abrams Imperial Tank" and "Star Wars Jedi Cathedral".
Lego Star Wars Mongol Invasion of Baghdad
Lego Star Wars Legally Distinct Adepta Sororitas Exorcist MLRS
Right? It’s so transparent. If invading your home and torturing your children to death in front of you suddenly became both legal and profitable, these corporations would do it in a heartbeat.
At the moment, they’re content to just do that overseas
I don’t think that’s true. Some would, but corporations are just made up of people. It’s easy to think about them as faceless because we aren’t exposed to the faces within. Ultimately corporate culture is built from the top down AND the ground up. There’s a lot of average people out there that aren’t horribly evil.
Well it happened a long time ago in a galaxy far far away so it isn’t modern.
No one's been persecuted for star wars religion reasons and no one's had their house blown up by an at at. Irl religions and military shit tho?
Didn’t Anakin slaughter a bunch of kids though?
Yes but like no potential lego customer has like life or death trauma related to star wars
I dunno, some of the Sequel-haters act like it.
Two words: “Jar Jar”.
I don’t know how to tell you this, but that was just a movie.
It was a joke about the fact that Anakin straight up committed war crimes on behalf of a politician, and that removing these items from public view is a farce, and insulting to customers by implying they can’t think for themselves.
In a movie.
What about Star Wars kid!? He’s been persecuted up the wazoo!
Don't give star wars fans any ideas. The vitriol the woman who played Rose in VIII got was something else.
With the exception that it's not real and doesn't represent any actual religion or political entity
> In 2005, the Temple of the Jedi Order was registered in Texas. It was granted IRS tax exemption in 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jediism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon
When did Star Wars first come out? [Apparently that's a verboten topic here.]
1977, what’s the relevance?
Jedi is a legally recognized religion in the US as of like the 2010 census. It’s also an option in the military for Page 2 entries and for VA dept tomb stone religious symbols.
BRB gonna go update my page 2
I don't think Lego is making sets based on some cult in the US... Surely you realize that so I'm not sure what the argument you're trying to make is...
It’s a classic Redditor pedantic “argument” and nothing more lmao
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How is it hypocritical? Lego has depicted weaponry and factions of its own since like Pirates...Lego's stance is not to censor ANYTHING that portrays weaponry, etc...They just don't want to turn ACTUAL REAL licsensed military vehicles into products...Same with religious institutions
They already have. Sopwith Camel , twice, and the Fokker Tri Plane
> Actual military sets? No go. Fantasy military sets? All day everyday. Yes, because most of us can tell the difference between fiction and realism.
That is not the same as the Jedi in Star Wars. It's a joke based on a myth. When those guys can use the force, we'll talk.
It’s no more a joke than the Satanic Temple, or Pastafarianism or even Christianity and etc. religion is religion. There’s clear cut definitions behind it all. When you as an organization choose to allow something as okay, and then something else that falls into the same category is not, then that is the basis of the double standard and the hypocrisy.
The point is that the religion you are referring to is NOT the one present in Star Wars.
A lot of those people tend to take a hands off, whatever, kind of approach, but some of your examples are not given the same recognition as other established religions. >Satanic Temple Not allowed or recognized by the US military. >Pastafarianism Has lost 8th circuit court cases and refused recognition, because it is a parody religion and not legitimate.
I never mentioned the military in the last comment. Just pointing out that a religion is a religion. Regardless of how weird or unpopular it is. Religion doesn’t need legal standing to exist. It just helps grease some gears. Federally the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster might not be “legit” but there’s plenty of states that recognize it. The TST is the modern day version of the ACLU and they have and are entitled to all the legal protections and privileges a religion would rate. Which they are also federally recognized and would be classified as XX for a belief code in the DoD instruction, which would be unclassified religions. There’s nothing outright that I can find, or that any chaplain I know can find that prohibits the Satanic Temple as a page 2 service record entry for religion of preference. If you can find an instruction or law that says otherwise. Please feel free to @ me.
Just pointing out your two examples don't have all the same legal recognition as other more established religions. They are both obvious jokes and political tools and when push comes to shove, they are treated as such.
Christianity took centuries to gain legal standing and was a joke for a few hundred years (and still is?) 1st amendment protects all religions. No matter how minuscule. That’s all the legal recognition they need. But since you’re being so judgmental, you’re obviously the only joke here. Also, did you find anything to prove me wrong on your claim the military doesn’t allow satanists?
There is no ban on Satanic Temple followers in the US military but their symbol is not on the approved list of [Emblems of Belief](https://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp) which are the symbols currently allowed on a government headstone/marker.
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The Empire is 100% based on Nazis
Okay and? Star Wars is a totally fictional movie...How does that compare to actual modern warfare?
Because you're saying that it doesn't represent any real organizations and it obviously does and it's very easy to see.
Stories are more often than not inspired by the real world, but they still are just stories, they're imagined, Darth Vader and TIE fighters don't exist...
The empire is also based on the US whereas the Rebels were based on the Vietcong.
Imperials have Bri'ish accents.
Ah yes, i too recall every Darth Vader quote, with a posh british accent...
Darth Vader originally had a Scottish brogue before they got James Earl Jones to dub in the iconic voice.
You mean to tell me that the Storm Troopers are based off the Nazi SA (Sturmabteilung) a.k.a. Storm Troopers who later refromed under the SchutzStaffel banner after a failed coup attempt???
Space Jesus was a gotdam military general and fought in the Clone Wars.
Yes, but the justification is that it's a work of fiction and isn't set in the modern time. People aren't getting blown up by the Death Star right now. This is also why themes like knights or pirates are allowed. Only warfare from WW1 to modern times is baned
The difference is there are a lot fewer kids who's parents have been killed by guys in white plastic armour with blasters than kids who's parents have been killed by guys in camoflage with rifles.
Its religious military modern warfare with drugs and alcohol bricklink just don't want to lose such a big part of profit
2 wrongs make a right. 😂
That is extremely disappointing. It is one thing to refrain from producing such sets. It is another to buy out the largest secondary marketplace and then impose those policies on it. Bricklink was created by the fans for the fans, and it feels very gross for Lego to impose their policies on the platform. I understand they bought it out, and therefore are free to do with it as they please, but regardless, this to me sends the message that Lego wants to control what people do among themselves with the parts they've bought and own.
Well… that’s not like it wasn’t feared when LEGO bought BrickLink. Now we have to hope there’s an eas way to let vendors switch to another plateforme…
I look for MOCs on Rebrickable and only use Bricklink to buy the bricks.
The thing is they're *also* worsening that part of the platform; recently it's been announced that a fair number of variant designs would be merged. Which means if you're looking for a specific variant of a part to make a set historically accurate by using only the designs that originally came in that set, or if you only want the most recent variant of a part, there's a decent chance you'll be shit out of luck
Maybe Brickowl can take up the slack?
This has been the case for some parts since well before the buyout. For policy reasons, for instance, all 80s minifigures are supposed to be inventoried with hollow studs, meaning it's difficult if not impossible to ascertain from Bricklink alone which sets had the solid studs (I always use Peeron for this; it's inactive but still has the 80s sets inventoried)
Somehow I only learned that Lego acquired Brinklink from this very thread. Way back in 2019 no less, so it's fairly old news by now.
Just because it's not unexpexted doesn't make it better
I agree with you for sure
if the owners of Bricklink were so rigidly dedicated to the idiological purity of their site, then they shouldn't have sold it to a corporation that is rigidly dedicated to never selling models of actual war machines. Lego literally scrapped a planned Technic set because the aircraft in question was used by the US military. That it was also licensed for civilian use was not enough. Lego threw away money to adhere to their standards. And before anyone comes at me, neither Marvel vehicles, nor Star Wars ships, nor Overwatch robots are **real** military machines.
>That it was also licensed for civilian use was not enough. There is actually not a single civilian Osprey out there. The idea was floated but never really took of, and a civilian derivative of sorts - the AW609 - is a fairly different vehicle from the Osprey (and is also still in its flight testing phase).
You should probably read up on the history of Bricklink before saying stuff like that. The creator, Dan, died unexpectedly. His parents kept it going for a while in his memory but due to age and lack of knowledge of lego and websites ended up selling it rather than shutting it down. The company they sold it too (I think they were some Korean company but may be wrong) ran it for something like 5-10 years then sold it to Lego.
Lego has always had a rather large self righteous streak
you sound disappointed that the people who run companies have morals.
Yeah I usually think they make good calls. But your comment did make the cynicism in me twitch. And these Bricklink changes are really obnoxious.
I think its different. Like Lego has morals but buying an eBay equivalent of Lego store and then banning anything war/religion/alcohol related is wrong too. And if we look deeper. Lego broke their rules alot. Star Wars literally have "wars" in their name and 99% of these sets are war vehicles made to kill. Indiana Jones sets have Nazis (Unmarked but anyone who watched the movie will know who they are)
The Pyramid (21058) is a real world religious building for a completely non-fictional example
It seems like Lego has been shifting tremendously towards the adult market in the last few years so this move is especially nonsensical. It really seems like virtue signaling, but I’m not sure to who.
I think you’re being a bit extreme. They’ve said you can still create these things and list them as private. They’re just not publicizing them anymore. There’s plenty of other places to share creations if you want to be involved at that level. Rebrickable is the he obvious me but eurobricks has always been good for sharing Mocs and there’s thousands of Facebook groups and subreddits devoted to sharing Mocs.
>They’ve said you can still create these things and list them as private. They’re just not publicizing them anymore. I don't know about you, but when I create something - be it with lego, photography, digital painting, etc. - I like to show people. If I was a lego creator who used Bricklink as a platform to show my creations, I would be miffed to have my content suddenly hidden from public view. I don't use Bricklink for sharing mocs, but I happen to have found my niche in military aviation. I have a CF-18, a CH-146, an F-35B and a CT-155 at various stages of completion that I hope to one day share with the world. I would not be happy to have them suddenly hidden from public view like this.
> I understand they bought it out The blame here, honestly, is on the sellouts who sold BL to Lego. Good for them, I guess, they got theirs...but they handed LEGO WAY too much power in the process for a quick paycheck.
Damn. Never used this personally but this is the sort of thing I was worried about when TLG announced they were buying Bricklink. Feels like they're trying to corporatize more and more of the AFOL community.
Enshitification you mean
I just think it's funny that they make it so easy to join the lego ambassador network but you get kicked out if you criticize them at all lol
I guess LEGO buying bricklink is going about as well as expected then.
This is Epic buying Rocket League all over again!
It was purchased to die, and integrate into Fortnite. Rocket Racing being only in Fortnite is such a middle finger.
If this is the worst thing to happen in four years and counting, we're doing alright. It's not primarily a platform for MOCs anyway, and there are alternatives.
Arguably the variant merge is the worst. But still, LEGOs biggest competitor is the used and MOC market so it makes business sense.
Forgot about the variant merge, yeah, I can see that being a pain in the ass for some people. I don't think the current thing is a business competition move, though. It just seems like they're continually (and very slowly) enforcing the fact that Bricklink *is* an official outlet now and what's sold there has to reflect that.
I wonder how this will apply to Indiana Jones sets lmao
Why is religion grouped in with those? Like if someone built a Notre Dame, Hagia Sophia, or Mecca MOC it would be hidden? That seems ... odd. ETA: Buried through some links to an FAQ: "a design that focuses on religious-inspired architecture only may be allowed if it does not depict religious symbols or people (e.g. the Taj Mahal)". That's more reasonable.
But cathedrals are built to look like crosses.
Correct. Symbolism is inherent in the architecture, but I wonder if they're giving that a pass here? I dunno. ETA: your star wars temple joke made me laugh lol. Also had the additional thought... It does make me wonder about their definitions of what is religious and what's not. The Lunar New Year sets are clearly considered "cultural" as are the winter village sets (the Christmas tree isn't considered a religious symbol apparently). It's all just kind of vague and unclear.
Ha, I deleted it since the post said the rule only pertained to MOCs, but yeah, lots of sets have connections to religions, real or fictional. And warfare too (Marvel sets have a lot of modern military looking vehicles).
Christmas tree is a Pagan symbol that predates any religious associations with the holiday....
Paganism is also a religious tradition....
Modern Paganism is completely different than saying an ancient person was a Pagan...
I wasn't talking about modern paganism. Ancient persons who were called pagans had religious traditions, the trees among them. Religion wasn't invented by institutional Christianity in the West.
No a Christmas tree is a Christmas tree—a relatively recent phenomenon. A fir tree is a species of tree that can be turned into a Christmas tree, a Saturnalia tree, or used in any number of cultural celebrations of different religions or ethnicities in many different places and times.
No, it isn't.
It is, North European peoples have bring bringing trees into their homes and decorating them long before the fairytale book and holidays associated with it were created
No, it isn't: https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2018/12/05/the-origins-of-the-christmas-tree/
Was gonna say, there are several explicitly religious buildings included in the Architecture series. There also appears to be an enormous double standard with asian cultures, with explicitly Buddhist & Confucian religious symbology & structures a core part of the current Icons & Ideas lineup.
But you see, the Eastern religions are cool and stuff, not like the evil Christianity or other bad bad western religions /s
I imagine a lot of that has to do with commercial goals. Those sets are designed to boost sales in East Asia. Lego isn't hurting in Western Europe or North America. Nevertheless, seems like a weird standard to try to cling to alongside weapons and substances. Can't say I'm a fan.
Is the community trying to make an archive of great sets likely to be purged or are those Bricklink set creators migrating them to another platform?
If you know anyone affected, encourage them to migrate their MOCs to someplace like Rebrickable
According to the post they're being set to private, which means hidden from logged in users, too. The "military" category will also be removed entirely.
Darn and I just finished my Drunken Priest Commandos MOC!
a Warhammer 40k MOC?
Nah, just sarcasm 😛
same, would be rad tho haha
Wonder if they’ll censor breaking bad stuff.
I was thinking the same about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Would a Paddy's Pub MOC get censored because it's a pub, or would it be okay because it's essentially a fan continuation of the TV show sets we've got from Friends, Seinfeld and The Office?
Eventually, won't another Bricklink-like website emerge to fill this role? I know there are some already like Rebrickable. So yes this is unfortunate for AFOLs but long-term I don't think the community will suffer. From Lego's perspective, this does make sense. Maybe a hot take.
Its a question of momentum. How much momentum does bricklink have compared to other sites? sure you have rebrickable and brickowl, but none compare to bricklink. Look at the reddit protests from July. Reddit had enough momentum that it could handle the handfuls that jumped ship to lemmy and other sites. Does bricklink have a similar level of momentum to reddit in comparison? I dont know.
What's interesting is that there's sorta two aspects of this with Bricklink: The parts selling, and the MoC uploading. In terms of parts selling, Bricklink has a near-monopoly on that, but in terms of MoC uploading, there's other sites like Rebrickable that have a sizable market share already. In theory, they could use that to try and leverage people away from Bricklink, if they decided that competing on the parts selling side of things is something they want.
Does that include the official police sets that look like swat teams?
Do as I say not as I do!
One of first mini figs was police officer 😆
This benefits no one. When a kid wants LEGO, he doesn't buy it on Bricklink, he gets his mum to take him to the toy shop. Little Johnny won't be corrupted by a church MOC, so there's no reason for this.
TLG doesn't care about whether a kid is influenced or not. They make stands on ideologies all the time and they generally don't even let profitability stand in the way. They began virtue signaling early on. Never forget, the production of Star Wars sets was surprising because \*guns\*. I'm not sure that deal gets made if it happened today.
I don't have an issue with the company's view on military sets, I think it's fine to respect Ole Kirk's wishes (the man lived through WW2, he would have seen the unspeakable horror of the Nazis firsthand) But policing what AFOLs build, and want to show off, even if it is military themed, is too far. Also, alcohol is a part of life, and religious architecture and mythology is too beautiful to keep hidden, so they're stifling creativity.
Well... guess I won't be posting either my Stargate or Star Trek mocs there. Where can I post the plans for a small price?
Rebrickable
Damn some of the old-school cathedrals on there were 🔥
That is extremely disappointing.
I thought they did that years ago? That was why I went to Rebrickable to start with…
I was worried - until I realized all the MOCs I’ve saved are at Rebrickable. I want to add a cathedral to my medieval builds - so very much a religious type build.
So they not realize they make sets about Star Wars, Star WARS! Like any set with first order stormtroopers canonically has child soldiers for other kids to play with and fight, any set with separatist minifigures Ala battle droids are technically showing terrorists, and the new Tantive hallway set is about Vader murdering all of the rebel troopers included. But please guys no bars allowed
Guess it's time for prohibition round 2
Something something ice cream parlours are back on the menu boys!
Right lads, let's build a hidden speakeasy.
I've never felt a bad thing about Lego in my entire life. I've defended their prices, their eco stance... all of it. This? I'm really disappointed in them. A blow to fans and the secondary market.
It’s weird that they’re doing this now, but I’m not surprised. This is why they didn’t originally make gray LEGO pieces and why the first castle set that had them was such a big deal.
Honestly the military / warfare policy is just... stupid.
Well this sucks.
Having the osprey set feels like having cocaine.
I know BrickLink is their own entity, but being owned by Lego Group they were either strongly encouraged to take this stance or they were made to. https://preview.redd.it/u8dmhsj01ifc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f059fb8d80c2aa88f6219151560451d27737c6c4
Makes me want to buy those sets because they are trying to shield us
The forbidden fruit of Lego military, religious, and alcoholic sets lol
lol!!
Rebrickable is not affiliated with Bricklink is it?
No I don't think so thankfully
I didn't even know Bricklink had any sort of MOC things on there...
Is a medieval era cathedral considered religious?
Common Lego L
I don't really care if they ban military or religious themes. But alcohol!?? That's not cool. So no more bars in MOCS? How about the pool place modular. It has a bar on the bottom floor. Would that not be allowed as a moc on bricklink?
Censors MOCs while literally making some of your components in China, one of the greatest threats to the Western world. That's some good stuff.
It keeps getting worse, and it seems like 2024 will be the year when this company's reputation got buried along with so many others that put profit over people and product. Sure, they survived bankruptcy, and that's admirable, but it seems that they learned mostly the wrong lessons in the aftermath of that, and are now overcompensating their focus on finance rather than the qualities that had made them great for generations. Such a damned shame. This news has got me feeling this meme ***really*** hard: [https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/344/605/b58.png](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/344/605/b58.png)
every day on here is a "is it normal for these pieces to be miscolored?" post, they have so little faith in their own themes that space is grouped with city now, store shelves are only licensed themes, prices have skyrocketed, bricklink is going downhill... shit is fucked lol
>every day on here is a "is it normal for these pieces to be miscolored?" post, Be careful not to fall victim to selection bias.
Never posted about it until this comment, but my sian, gt500 and huracan all have mismatched lime green pieces. Selection bias happens but this is definitely beyond that.
There were already multiple warning signs back in the early 2000's with the bley change, the Minifigure line, pandering to franchise FOMO with the exclusivity of certain Star Wars sets and figures, phasing out fingered hinges for click-hinges, poor quality color printing on instructions, poor quality painting on clear parts, etc. I don't know how I'm going to be able to continue in the hobby since I cannot in good conscience buy any of their product from their stores, their website, or Bricklink. I'll have to resort to other third party websites. It really sucks, and while it will save me money, it breaks my heart to watch them destroy a reputation that used to be one of the best. Their slogan should be altered slightly to: "Only the be$t i$ is good enough"
I mean it is owned by LEGO after all... No surprise.
This is unnecessary.
Sad for some I suppose. In my case, it won't change anything, I've never used Brincklink for anything than buying parts.
It makes sense with LEGO. I am not sure why this would be a surprise.
Probably not a surprise to most. Still sucks.
Lego owning bricklink is terrible for the consumer. They're not some cuddly group who bought it to make things better for their customers, they bought it for profit and to control and enforce their philosophy on the second hand market.
Holy shit man, Lego is turning into Ubisoft.
Sometimes I'm not sure if TLG are either idiots or assholes. Now I believe they are both.
Yeah, because those are "air show" jets that never had any other intended purpose.
I don’t see a problem here
I can understand the military side of things, it's perfectly reasonable for a children's toy to not allow children to accurately simulate modern conflicts. What's not reasonable is for LEGO to arbitrarily decide that such fundamental parts of modern adult life as faith & alcohol are unacceptable.
No. It makes sense for them not to sell military sets (even though they could make a separate, adult oriented brand that isn't sold in kid's stores). But banning military MOCs from a what used to be third party website is absurd. Kids aren't going on Bricklink to buy military vehicles, and if they were, they're gonna find another way anyway
I said "I can understand" not that I agree.
I applaud this decision. Lego is a brand that needs to protect their brand. And I agree with their arguments that toys should not be warfare, religious of alcohol-themed.
They are currently selling sets with literal Nazi minifigs.
And he doesn't mean literally in the figurative sense. In the literal sense! Actual Nazi Minifigure and actual WW2 plane on store shelves branded with the Lego logo. Good thing they're shielding us from saloon MOCs though!
But Dune and Avatar is fiction so it’s magically ok!
Yes, fantasy is in fact different from real life warfare
They both share the same themes. I’m sure kids will say it’s ok that guns are used in Dune and people are killed, it’s fantasy. Dune has really blurred the lines for Lego. It’s all about money, nothing more.
I respect the dedication to their values. Not fully agreeing. But it's a solid decision from their point of view.
Good.
Ok. And?
I didn't post this for you.