Soldato
Is it possible to report an entire thread
***The Official OcUK Lego Thread***
- Thread starter Rameses
- Start date
I wouldn't care at all if they were not just straight up ripping off Lego products and other peoples IP without any care in the world.
They wouldn't sell anything if they had to make their own stuff.
As much as people shout about it on here the market for retired sets is niche at best. A company like Lego couldn't sustain every set indefinitely. They only retire sets once sales drop off. Same thing applies for action figures, comics etc.
They wouldn't sell anything if they had to make their own stuff.
As much as people shout about it on here the market for retired sets is niche at best. A company like Lego couldn't sustain every set indefinitely. They only retire sets once sales drop off. Same thing applies for action figures, comics etc.
I can understand if all you buy is current lego sets from lepin. But of (like many of us) you buy most current sets from lego and retired sets from lepin what' t issue?
No way I'm paying 100's for a retird s just because I wasn't into it back then.
No way I'm paying 100's for a retird s just because I wasn't into it back then.
Associate
I do! It's like you've seen right through me!!
I will immediately go and buy some Danish bacon to atone for my sin of buying a Lepin copy of a set Lego don't actually sell any more.
Soldato
I don't pay over inflated prices for sets I can't afford I just accept I can't have them. Because having a lepin set does not do it for me.
I still don't have the set I just have a dodgy lookalike
Soldato
And therein lies the rub, the quality if Lepin has improved significantly where it is no longer a dodgy lookalike and they are rolling out new MOC sets all the time. Yes I agree it takes the **** selling copies of official lego kits before they have been launched or MOC models with no royalties going to the designers but if they can change their operating model they could put some serious competition into the market.Jimlad said:
Xingbao which I believe is part of Lepin is taking MOC sets and getting approval from the designers to release them (unsure if they get payment or not). This means more interesting and complex sets at a decent price.
Soldato
I am all for that. For example Lego don't do full on military / army sets. Why don't lepin do that. It's the knock off stuff I have an issue with. As ultimately it ends up mixed in with the genuine stuff and for me that is just aids
Soldato
Moaning > pictures.
Sort it out
Sort it out
Soldato
It's insane. We'll move on, then next week someone will say Lepin and it'll go all over again.
Associate
Personally I don't believe that. Lego's logistics are entirely automated and there aren't a ridiculous number of parts. They could easily offer unboxed parts kits for retired sets at the very least. The copy manufacturers maintain a far wider product range with (presumably) far less infrastructure.
I can go on Bricklink, download the instructions for any historical set and purchase the parts inventory via a third party seller network. And that's a community designed system. Lego could do it in a heartbeat if they wanted to. They don't want to because they're happy being seen as the premium brand with a desirable back catalogue. It keeps their market buoyant, their perceived value- and consequently their retail prices- high.
I doubt the impact from the Chinese copy brands would even be registering on the balance sheet, because they're almost unknown to the general masses, you don't see them on store shelves outside of Hong Kong, and they don't market themselves.
Happy to take this convo elsewhere if it's annoying the majority...
I can't really see how that will work, its far more complex than you make out. The sets are produced in batches because they sell millions of them. They only make the parts they need to make those batches. Sure some common parts will be constantly in production like Technic pins. But most of the sets you are referring to are UCS sets which do have unique parts, printed parts, have parts in a colour specific to that set and sell in relatively low volumes. It would be extremely expensive to have sets on demand, the sheer number of parts is insane once you take into account the colours used. Where do you draw the line, there are thousands of retired sets now. Lets not forget the retail model they have to support also.
The difference is with brick link is parts are spread around the world in peoples basements which have zero overhead. No one carry's all the parts you want, you have to deal with multiple sellers and get shipments from all over the place. There are also things like stickers and instructions and retail packaging to deal with.
How about some official lego to dry the tears and stop us worrying about Lego profits. Ran into some bargains today to go with the sets obtained at Christmas. We also broke up 100ish kits to make room for the new, all sorted into colours for my son to build whatever he likes.
Associate
Holy moly that's a lot to build!
I’ve finally finished my Christmas present, a really fun build with a lot of playable features and it’s quite big (3400 parts). There’s a fair few technic parts, as there’s two working cranes, the rear tracks can be steered and the front ramp can be raised and lowered. And loads of mini figures, I highly recommend it.
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Soldato
Interesting Christmas present, it's been retired since January last year! Nice kit though.
Caporegime
Man it's a nightmare! Try moving it once it's done!
It's probably not possible without knocking bits off! Probably be worse than the snow speeder!
Caporegime
I've never moved it without breaking it