Skip to main content

Another Lego/bricks blog

Just what we need -- another internet blog about Lego (Legos?) and bricks that are not actually manufactured by a company called Lego.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a Lego purist. I grew up with most of my sets being from Lego -- but I also had a few Tyco sets and some other ones from brands that I can't identify. It didn't matter to me who made what brick as long as it all played together nicely. So let's all play together -- nicely.

(Except for Mega Bloks or Mega Construx or whatever they're calling it these. Get out of here with that junk.)

I have approximately 500 sets as of this post, about 80% of which are Lego. The rest are a combination of BlueBrixx, Lepin, Sluban, Lele, or some other unidentified Asian brand. I love the Asian brands, not specifically because they've brought this hobby of building things out of bricks to a more attainable price point, but also because some of these companies are delivering products that Lego doesn't want to produce.

Take trains for example: I am a huge fan of trains. I grew up in a household that had a large G-Scale layout in our living room and a dedicated office full of rare and collectible things. My dad's layout was the first thing you saw when you walked into our house. We had a mix of LGB, Aristo-craft, Delton, and USA (and it all played together nicely). When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to see what train products Lego would release next. It was the first section I'd look for in every catalog or sales insert. Of course, this was back when we got rolling stock, locomotives, buildings and accessories, and track that were sold in the way that I wanted them. Today, we can't do that. BlueBrixx, as an example, sells all kinds of locomotives and rolling stock, and my layout continues to grow with their products.

Things that may make some folks grumpy:
  • Sometimes I say "Legos". Yes, I know it should be "Lego bricks" or Lego blocks". It's a habit from when I was a kid that's difficult to break.
  • I own a few Lepin sets that are copies of Lego sets. When I got back into this hobby, I didn't know what I was doing and viewed these Chinese copies as just cheap alternatives. I no longer purchase copyright-infringed sets and hope to replace the infringed ones I do own with Lego ones some day.
  • Virtually all of my train track, baseplates, and roadplates are not Lego. They're some combination of "Lego compatible" (or "Chinese") pieces. Some of my track is from TrixBrix.
  • I don't care too much about modeling to scale. All my trains are likely to be 6-wide until the day Lego standardizes something else.
  • Sometimes I put the wrong locomotive with my rolling stock. For example, I have a BlueBrixx BR 08 steam locomotive pulling Rheingold DB passenger cars. I don't like the look of the Rheingold locomotive, but I like the passenger cars -- and I love the steam locomotive. I think they look great together. I also mix and match my European and American freight cars.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Urge UG-10180 Bake Shop Review

I was a little nervous about this because, yes, it's made of flesh colored bricks. Definitely not the pinkish color this stock image would suggest. But if you think if it as peach instead, you can quickly get over the fact that you're building a modular building out of human skin. Honestly, the different color is a refreshing addition to my city because there's nothing out there that looks anything like this. I was not missing any pieces, and nothing was malformed. Many of the transparent pieces were scratched and/or cloudy. The instructions are absolutely ridiculous. You will not get bored building this thing; it basically has you put a few random bricks on each wall, rotate 90 degrees and put a few more on the next wall, and so on, until you get back to the first wall and actually finish the thing you started building. I haven't a clue why the directions are the way they are. It almost seems like it was done intentionally because there's no logic to some of the st...
Post a Comment
Read more

BlueBrixx 100284 Locomotive Shed Review

I have to preface this by saying that I absolutely love BlueBrixx. They have designed so many cool sets for train-loving brick builders that I find myself scouring their website frequently to see what's coming next. They've done a fantastic job of delivering what Lego chooses not to -- locomotives, rolling stock, and accessory buildings -- at fairly reasonable prices.  I am a huge fan of of Lego's 10027 Engine Shed , a legend among train fans. But anyone looking to purchase one probably knows by now it will set you back a fair amount of money. To add insult to injury, you really need two of them for it to look appropriate.  Enter the BlueBrixx Locomotive Shed. This brick-and-mortar monster sits on more than 2 and a half baseplates and is comprised of approximately 5.3 billion pieces. You read that correctly. All of the walls are predominantly 1x2 bricks. The shingled roof on the side of the building is about 500 pieces alone. This created a rather detailed and quite fancy l...
1 comment
Read more

Kazi 98220 Cargo Rail Train

I’m here to review the Kazi 98220 “Cargo Rail Train”. I haven’t seen many photos apart from the stock ones on the internet, so hopefully this will help some folks who are considering adding this set to their collection. The set includes a locomotive, passenger car, boxcar, oval of track with 2 switches and a siding, cargo truck, and a small platform. Five minifigures are also included – an engineer, two cargo delivery people, and two passengers. The set came in a tightly wrapped bubble wrap bag, and arrived in about 2 weeks from China to Baltimore. Retails for $55-60 on AliExpress. I paid $48.93, which included coupon from AliExpress during the 11/11 promotion. It’s worth noting that all of the bricks are screen printed! No stickers! I wish some other brick companies would learn from this … Below, I’ll review in the individual parts. Bricks : Great clutch, maybe even a little too strong. There is a brick separator included, and was needed for sure. The pieces were ju...
Post a Comment
Read more