FO fan here, too. High quality bricks, for some time now only prints = no stickers, sensational lighting solutions (looks so awesome in display cabinets). Got 25 FO sets built so far. Anyway, the new LEGO modular tudor style will be mine soon.
@@SethZones Thanks for watching! We need to look at that modular a little closer from LEGO, it isn’t on our to buy list. What is your favorite FO set so far? We agree with you- FO is awesome and we love their printed pieces and awesome lights.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds My favorite FO set so far? Always the one I built last. 🤣 For real: The Record Store and the Cyber Appartment are fighting for the crown... but probably only until I built the motel I guess. Current build is Pantasy's modular Baker Street 221B Apartment. No lights (*aaargh*) but best brick quality on the planet imho.
@ we have the Baker Street by Pantasy- haven’t built it yet. Greta to know it is a good one! We have the Record Store- haven’t built it yet 🤣. And the Motel is coming- we are looking forward to that one too!
I've read that "price per gram" is a more accurate metric than "price per piece", as it takes into account the variation in piece size. Something to consider.
Genuinely, I think the best reason for me at least really does come down to not only price and theming but also technique and quality. Just look at anything in funwholes range. The lighting kits alone paired with some genuinely fun builds with good clutch and unique pieces. and generally at half or less the cost of an equivalent set from lego....
@@miharu654 thanks for watching and commenting. Bricks without good quality and clutch are PAINFUL to work with!!! We had one recently that we DNF because it was so painful to put together! FO is awesome for price point and quality!
Something I think is the case is that sometimes the alt-brands don't have every piece that Lego makes, but alternatively they do make pieces that Lego does not make, or in colours that Lego haven't applied to them. So that's something. Also a lot fewer stickers, and with included light kits (and specialised pieces to accommodate them).
@@GuanoLad we have been doing pick a brick with WeBrick and have been successful finding 95% of the bricks in the colors that we wanted so far. The pieces I couldn’t find - an alligator- which I had to get through Bricklink because LEGO doesn’t currently sell that piece either. They were out of a color in a parasol, but they had the part. A couple other pieces they had but were out of stock. If you haven’t checked them out, we have really liked them and they also sell GoBricks pick a brick too. Agree with less stickers and the lighting that is included with FO is getting better all the time. Thanks for your comments!
Pantasy made the wise decision to not include minifigs in their modular compatible sets. Keeps the cost down, and they know most of their customers won't like the designs they come up with [FO minifigs - ya either love or loathe them! :P ]. I'm all for that - use Lego minifigs in the alt brands' builds as they work just fine...
@@thebrickhiker yeah. We have a few Pantasy sets that we need to put together and agree- finding a Minifig that people will like is difficult. We got the Sherlock Holmes modular and the Brickheadz that they created - looking forward to building them!
The FO minifigures have already grown on me and I find them cute, collectable in their own right, and the prints on them are just excellent. Their overall shape and their faces (mainly the eyes) kind of remind me of characters from certain old-school European cartoons and comics. 🙂
I like the funwhole figures too. I got the “LED minifigure” free gift that came with 3 figures and it’s awesome. One is holding a torch that lights up.
I like Mould King for some of their technic looking sets, but I want to look at Fun Hole for their medieval and modular sets. I just don't want to pay over $300 for Lego sets going forward.
Lego Pro: There is a market for used Lego, both complete sets and pieces. I bought my Market Street used off the ‘Bay. The first owner got to build it, enjoy it for a while, then get most of his money back.
@@jimm244 there definitely is a market for used LEGO and LEGO bricks hold/increase in value as time goes by. That is something we mentioned off camera as a plus for LEGO over alt bricks.
You don't need to step away, you can still get the good/decent sets as well as buying the best alt brick sets. Its not just the price/piece...its also what pieces you get and the design and build. FO is cheaper (not as much, it seems in UK compared to eg US savings) but ot does also provide great lighting bricks and solution.
@@alanbuxey we still buy both- just made a LEGO order yesterday; as well as an alt brick order. Another person who commented said “build what you love.” We love this sentiment. We also feel like the market and collectors truly drive the prices for LeGO. People are complaining about a $1000 Death Star, but they will sell every single one of them and do well- why? People love LEGO, they love Star Wars, and FOMO 🤣. Truthfully, we a set we love and we remember the Black Pearl and how we never got it when it was new and now it is worth soooo much. Thanks for commenting! FO is amazing and we really love their sets too.
Good video! I would disagree with a couple points: 1) Parts quality: Lego has very noticeably been slipping in recent years, with brittle parts, color inconsistency, bad prints, missing parts, etc. On the other hand, current sets from Cobi, Pantasy, or Funwhole usually have better quality control all around. Similarly, the manuals from Cobi or Funwhole are actually better in terms of clarity and user friendliness. 2) IP: Alternative brands run the gamut from outright counterfeits and unlicensed knockoffs (Lepin) to totally above-board licensing. Cobi, Pantasy, Funwhole, BlueBrixx, and Cada, for example, have partnerships with major franchises and companies. To me the only real advantage of Lego is its resale value for investors. But just in terms of hobby enjoyment, the competing brands are doing some amazing stuff for way lower prices than Lego, and it makes zero sense to stick with Lego exclusively unless you're only interested in the franchises to which they have rights.
@@SO-ym3zs great points! Brittle brown is definitely an issue with LEGO. We had missing parts with Cobi and FUNWHOLE so far, not Pantasy, but have only done one or two yet. Definitely have some great companies that are licensing and doing it correctly- completely agree with Cobi, not sure I have seen FUNWHOLE do licensing (could be totally off base- BUT love that they are doing their own designs and being original for sure)
@@SO-ym3zs and AGREED that LEGO holds value and investing- I think we will find this for other companies as well in the future and look forward to seeing that happen, because they are doing great work!
@@CurKymBrickBuilds You're right, iirc, no licensing from Funwhole (yet), but the others mentioned do it. Given the presumed complexity of getting hundreds or thousands of correct parts into each set, the overall quality control of all the brands under discussion is amazing. But when Lego is charging double what some of other brands do, they better be darn near perfect, and in recent years, I've actually had a lot more problems with their sets than any competing brands. A far cry from years back when I could open any Lego set and know all parts would be there, match in color, etc. I know I'm hardly alone with that experience. The color inconsistency in particular has been widely commented on.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds I could easily see that happening, too, particular with Funwhole, who have rightly been generating a lot of buzz with theirs sets. Once more people catch on, a secondary market could develop for their sets. Personally, my chief interest is in theme, design, quality, and price. Whether or not I can resell a set isn't as important.
As a long time Lego collector (build and display), I was already bummed about the emergence of the 'investors' market (around 2012 (thank you ebay))) and when Lego did their massive price increase in 2022 I began looking at alt. brick brands. I didn't take the 'plunge' until late 2023, and this year, while still buying several Lego models, I've actually purchased more alt. brand products, and have found the quality of both FunWhole and Pantasy to be 100% comparable with Lego. Considering Lego has been moving more of their manufacturing to lesser expensive Countries for years now (the US is supplied by Mexico, and I've read recently that more are being brought in from China), they've certainly brought their cost down dramatically, yet have still been increasing prices. When you can buy fantastic, high quality models for half the price, with fantastic designs, clever build techniques, better manuals, printed pieces, lighting kits, and for half the price (if not even more), it simply doesn't make sense to avoid alt. brands if you're an adult fan of brick building.
In a few months, TLG will be opening the Virginia Lego factory up [they are hiring - see a special VA Lego website for job openings :) ], which will continue to help keep their costs low, and avoid some potential tariffs. But I doubt this will result in a lower cost for us consumers. :( I've been a fan of Lego since the 70s and never had a Dark Age. If anything, I feel this is the beginning of a slow burn dark age for me, due to their increasing ratio of sets that lack value to me.
Yes, I think that is what folks like us have discovered, brick build g rather than LEGO building. Once your worldview changes you open your self up to incredible sets. People have to remember they’re not cheating on LEGO🤣.
@@csg2745 Brand loyalty/dependency is something every company strives for - what's interesting about Lego is that they've had that for years, yet as an already expensive product, they've blown up their prices further, and fixated on more expensive/higher piece count models while neglecting price ranges that would appeal to more average income collectors. They pretty much created the market for alt. brands by neglecting an extremely large demographic. I think FunWhole's emerging success is due to filling that void.
When it comes to bulk bricks… bluebrixx got lots of part packs at good prices. So if I need just a bunch of grey bricks they got packs of 50, 100, 200, 1200 depending on the size of the piece (also assortments and even theme specific, like beach building wedgeplate selections) you want and in many other colours that Lego doesn’t do. They also have pieces Lego doesn’t make like plates with studs on both sides. So good for MOCs if you want to build less bulky snod. Also they have a Stargate license, and really nice medieval sets… if I want particular pieces or minifigs I go Bricklink or PaB of course… and the Chinese make really good Anime minifigure nockoffs with better printing than Lego.
@@andregundel3345 we will have to go check out bluebrixx, thanks for that! We have had great luck with WeBrick. We do Bricklink when we need to find specialty pieces- definitely gets expensive that way with all the shipping costs, minimum buy limits, etc. we usually add some minifigs we are interested in to make it a little more palpable. We tend to go to Amazon as well when we need something fast- WeBrick has a presence on there. Thanks! Going to check them out now!
@ it‘s a German company. So for Americans shipping might be a bit of a decision factor. They have a English version of their website but in general it’s not the best browsing experience. But they do know how to make good sets. They distribute Yong nap and others in Europe as well. I think Mouldking is also owned buy them since this year. If rumours are correct LEGO took the Star Trek license away from them. Bluebrixx had it the last 3 years and paramount or whoever owns it now didn’t want to renew it. It’s a bit of a shame because their Star Trek ships where well build, especially the minifigure scale shuttles (without minifigs). Their minifigures in general are not my cup of tea, too round for my taste.
@ yeah, I did check it out, probably not the best place for us to purchase in the US. Bummer about Star Trek. Their sets look amazing actually! it is hard to compete with the LEGO minifigs.
When you look at the value in a set, consider how many of those parts you already have, or can get very cheap in bulk MP purchases. Then price what your buying considering what you will get but don't already own. Those special parts become very expensive.
@@LivingAlbumPhotos agreed! That was a little of what we were commenting to on another person’s post. We picked a brick for our Haunted Mansion MoC that we got off Rebrickable- it costs us around $700ish to make it after pick a brick then finding specialty pieces off of rebrickable- paying shipping prices off Rebrickable. Having a set together is more affordable. Good perspective! Thanks for bringing it up!!
Great, well put together video, but it's a testament to Lego's ridiculous market dominance that this is even a question. Do we only watch Universal movies? Or only read Penguin books? Lego has spent years convincing the world that it's a mono-industry; that only they have the right to make models using bricks. I remember when I was going to buy my first non-Lego set and I felt guilty about it - like I was betraying Lego. How crazy is that? I'd internalized a corporate marketing strategy. Amazing work from Lego, but incredibly subtle and toxic. Buy what looks cool and that you enjoy. Don't be brand loyal, be happiness loyal.
@@bennydeckard interesting take. I definitely feel like LEGO purists make people feel this way as well. We felt a little guilty as well straying from LEGO. I like the saying- “be happiness loyal”! Thanks for sharing!
I think people stick with Lego because up until just a few years ago, other brands quality wasn't up to par. Even Mega had problems with connections being too tight or too loose. Now that other brands have the same quality, Lego Purists r starting to realize they can buy other brands now. As someone who only collects Lego StarWars, I stick with them cause they hold the license. Not to mention the mini figure is a staple in the brick building community
@ I definitely think LEGO is not going anywhere, but alt bricks are absolutely stepping up. Companies like Pantasy, FO, Mould King, LOZ, and others are making great bricks that fit together well and are being more creative at times with their offerings. I addition, their price point is making people stray. LEGO Star Wars is something that we enjoy as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and watching.
Resale value of Lego. Resale value of retired Lego. Resale value of used Lego. I’ve no idea what the resale value of alt bricks would be, but I imagine the margins are slim.
@@AdamBurgess-p3g yes- agreed. Thanks for commenting and watching! We talked about including this in the video and decided not to. Example- Mould King Castle that we just purchased was around $400 when it was sold, but on secondary market, as a retired set, we got it for $240 with no shipping fees. This was a HUGE box, so the reseller either lost money, got a huge deal on it at one point, or was a store owner that never sold it and was trying to recoup their money. So, margins there were either negative or cost. We predict that there are some companies that we will start seeing a better margin of resale as we move forward- I.e. FO, Pantasy, Mould King - as people start to purchase other alternative bricks because they like to build and LEGO just isn’t producing everything that they want in their collections. Frankly, FO is a leading contender- we feel that, but also many commenters actually think they are outperforming LEGO. They are a smaller company, so it will be interesting to see them grow and see how that happens. Bigger corporations are often top heavy and start to forget their origins and why they became popular in the first place as the person who started it either sells or becomes removed from the day-to-day operations. Anyway- LEGO is absolutely the resell market’s darling. Look at the Black Pearl- sold for $100 in like 2012 (?), now new in box is close to $1000 (it is close or there depending on seller).
@ I’ve only been buying and selling for 6 weeks. The buying is mostly easy, the selling for a mark up is the hard part. I’m nowhere near buying in bulk, so it’s a couple of this set and a couple of that. Smaller sets year round and bigger sets to sell in the run up to Christmas, is my plan
another factor to stay with lego is resale value and possible appreciation. id like to see a price per piece for ip set vs non as im not into ip at all and i feel like thay would bump the price up
@@hthring agreed- resale and appreciation is absolutely a good reason to stay with LEGO. We talked about it, but didn’t include in the video. We feel that FO is up and coming, possibly Pantasy as well- we expect there will be a collector’s market started and appreciation occurring there too. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@icekitty400 I agree- hate stickers! Love that FO has printed pieces. I am always happy when the alt brick builds have printed pieces rather than having to place stickers!! Thanks for watching and commenting!
One thing to keep in mind with Lego, is that TLG spreads the licensing costs across *all* themes. There is no IP Tax on IP-based sets. TLG simply prices the sets at what they believe the market will bear. This is why you get some crazy high prices for Marvel and Star Wars; it is not due to Disney Tax [there are plenty of inexpensive sets from both IPs], it is because they know people will spend $80 to get a Red Hulk set or $500 to get a Jabba barge set. Granted, they don't get everyone's money [I am very picky on what I buy these days when sets are priced crazy]. Also price per piece can be a difficult thing to judge a set's value by. The $20 City sailboat set you showed, has a very pricy part - the sail. And a stud is a lot less costly for TLG to manufacture than a large panel piece or a BURP.
@@thebrickhiker interesting. Thanks for sharing that perspective. Definitely, people are buying the sets that are Disney and Star Wars and willing to pay a higher price for those. We are getting choosier on what we are spending money on as well lately.
I would say while most alt bricks have bad figures, mega bloks recently has blown lego out of the water. And they have halo and fallout. Although they seem to be going through a rough patch right now.
@@Doonut-77 we just built a Mega Blocks Audi Hot Wheels - the video is getting ready to come out soon. We liked the blocks as well. Fallout and Halo is not something we have ventured out to, so below our radar- but definitely there is a big audience for those themes. Thanks for commenting and watching!
@@anomalouschaz we support MOC builders as well. We have purchased plans from ReBrickable from MOC creators, from MOC creators personally, and I personally plan on learning the software so that we can create some designs eventually- work is always getting in the way. There are companies like Mould King and Cobi that have done great plans for war aircraft and guns. Pick a Brick- whether on WeBrick or LEGO or Bricklink is always more expensive than being able to buy a set that is put together. Our Haunted Mansion MOC that was picked up a brick cost close to $750 when said and done (that was all LEGO parts)- it is a set that may cost more like $300-$350 when boxed by a company. Plus the plans cost money as well. We just purchase plans for 16 Brickheadz from a designer. They cost $20- his intellectual property and skill is worth it don’t get me wrong. But pick a brick cost about $200 (this time we used WeBrick) for them when Brickheadz are usually around $10 a piece when boxed by a company. A similar experience for a couple of other MOCS we recently picked a brick for- but that is the only way they are available. We have also supported MOC builders through the LEGO ideas program and purchased Bricklink Ideas winners sets. So many talented designers out there! Honestly, the hardest part about pick-a-brick is when you buy for multiple projects and have to sort.🤣 That takes a while! Also, when parts used are from sets that do not have available sale parts or colors - so you have to purchase from multiple sellers on Bricklink- that gets expensive and time consuming (mostly due to all the shipping fees). All this time say - MOC builders are awesome and we suggest supporting them, but it is never as cost effective as being able to buy a boxed set from a company. And it is always less time consuming to get a boxed set. ☺️ Thanks for sharing and reminding people of the awesome MOC builders out there! They are worth everyone’s time to go check out!
I have a modest lego city. Yes lego is pricey I've kept away from IP stuff entirely. Fun hole with the lights looks amazing. Definitely want to check out something from them. I recently did a Christmas scene pick a brick & used lego stores got me all the white slopes & bricks I needed. For MOC builders not sure if any other brands let you buy bulk parts
@@JimBobaroni you can pick a brick from WeBrick and we really have had a good experience with them. We have a pick a brick Haunted Mansion MOC made with entirely LEGO pick a brick. WeBrick allows you to pick a standard brick or a premium brick- which is GoBricks. We have had great luck with finding pieces that we need. We recently bought plans from designers on ReBrickable and Instagram for Brickheadz and we picked all the bricks from WeBrick. FO is worth the look- we really like them!! We are LEGO modest as well, but love their Disney builds and Star Wars builds. Getting into the MOC scene once I learn more about the build program- any advice on that?
@CurKymBrickBuilds sounds like you have a good handle on that already. Have to check out Gobricks. I really like small brick city on UA-cam. The videos are like years old but great small builds like photo copiers desks etc. The buildings are on a smaller scale great if you don't have the space.
@@rexrogers4588 definitely. Thanks! I just built two of them with amazing printed pieces that were really important to the build. Like that way better than having to use stickers. The lighting is something that we think that LEGO can definitely step up on.
@@ericlizama8552 we’ve never run into that particular problem with “normal” (LEGO) sized blocks but definitely have with mini blocks. Those hurt your fingers after an hour or so.
@@ericlizama8552 interesting. We haven’t found that to be the case at all so far- the worst experience - and only with two LEGO alternative sets is that the grip is awful- too tight or too loose. Also, the build design choices made it difficult to continue building because it just didn’t fit quite right. It was like they designed with the computer but never implemented it in person to see how it really worked out.
We recently put together a LEGO alternative brand where my fingers felt like I had arthritis after. The bricks were very difficult and didn’t want to hold together. I posted about it- it is in a box and it probably will be parted out. I haven’t had those experience with minibricks- the sharp edges, but definitely after too much building, my fingers can get a little sore because they have less surface area to push on. I find it I more a surface area of the brick to surface area of the finger issue rather than a sharp edge issue.
I love the video, thank you for posting. I have built several mould king and funwhole sets< both are amazing! Baka seems to be excellent as well. I have yet to put together the Pantasy Steampunk clock tower, but really looks great. I am building an amusement park and lego just doesnt have enough sets to accomodate my layout.
@@BrickobieLakePark love that you are building an amusement park. Would love to see that. I have seen some fun sets on Ali Express with that theme in mind! Thank you!
@@CurKymBrickBuilds just about finished with my first set the music shop, the lighting is so well engineered. The bricks are quality as others have mentioned, as well.
@ we have the record shop, all of their houses that are cabin-y, the skate shop, and the cyber apartment and the motel are ordered and on the way. We really think that FO will start to become a collector’s market item and in the future we may start to see them have LEGO standing. We agree with you completely!
@@ISO8Legionaire that is definitely a plus! Honestly, I feel like FO is up and coming and we may start to see a collector’s market for their sets as well
@ makes sense, for sure! We get that. Actually found a set we are excited about by Mould King that is no longer in production and new in box is being sold for less than original retail. So if resale is important, definitely is a factor. We bought all the LeGO friends sets for our daughter and sold them to the neighbor for what we purchased them for. We probably could have got a lot more for it. We just are enjoying our sets for now. Thanks for joining in the convo!
Quality wise... LEGO is 2nd IMHO. When you have FO making _all_ printed pieces for their sets vs LEGO's infamously humongous sticker sheets (34 stickers on a $25 set with 280 pieces!?!) ... the embossed "LEGO" logo on every stud doesn't cut it anymore. LEGO is number 2 in my book.
I wouldnt say that LEGO don't release enough sets. Sure, if you are into specific collections then you won't get many per year but the flipside is the complaints they'd get from people if they release eg 3 modular sets per year 'i cant afford to buy them all and they aresold out by the time I've saved' many people don't have over $1000 per year to spend on LEGO , or any alt-bricks for that matter
@@alanbuxey they did drop over 200 new sets this month- you are right- they aren’t necessarily things that we are into. Affording to buy them is definitely an issue! Thanks for the commenting and perspective!
I just ordered the Pantasy Sherlock Holmes set this morning, through Amazon. It will arrive in 10 days, to Canada, which is fine. It is a “licensed set “ and yet was still only $105.00 CDN. So apparently having licensed sets isn’t as expensive as Lego tries to make us believe it is??? I have a large “Lego City” , with all the Modular’s (about half real and half copies), which doesn’t bother me in the least. I started about 7 years ago, as my retirement hobby, and half the Modular’s were already in the after markets, at ridicules prices, I certainly couldn’t afford on OAP. Lego’s greed is due to being “top heavy “. I worked in a large manufacturing company, where a hand full of executives and managers….. made more income than the 500 employees who worked under them. Lego is the same, fancy campuses, buildings and teams of “designers” sitting around all day playing with bricks. Also, in the city theme…..most of it is just junk. One modular a year and a bunch of “Friends” sets. I have gotten into the Medieval theme and many of the “other” brands are making way better sets that Lego. In the end….it doesn’t matter how nice a set is….if I can’t afford it. Cheers from 🇨🇦
@@MrPolleyr hi! Nice to hear from you. Thanks for watching and commenting! We picked up the Pantasy Sherlock Holmes set as well. Great deal! We got the Brickheadz too. It is probably not as expensive as they make it, or maybe some franchises are more expensive than others? I imagine Disney is probably an expensive license? Interesting in LEGO being top heavy- I imagine that is true. We went to go look for the Black Pearl and Modulars and agree that they are super ridiculously expensive and out of reach at this point for us too. We are working on our city, but have a lot more FO sets to add to it.
@ Honestly, the only difference I found between the knockoff versions and the Lego modulars is…no Lego stamp on the studs. Really, people come in to see my city, and unless I tell them some are not Lego, no one knows, even some Lego collectors.😜 I’m up in New Brunswick, next to Maine. Where are you located?
@ agreed. We have been purchasing pick a brick from WeBrick lately and no one could tell the difference. I love the idea of a city, we haven’t gotten there, even though we have Modular- we haven’t started MILS plating too. We are in GA- south of Atlanta.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds ….wow, that’s interesting. I spent a week in Georgia many years ago. I was in Covington visiting a friend. One thing I will never forget….how hot and humid it was. It was summertime and it was 98* degrees and 98% humidity. It spent most of the time in the pool, in the car with the air conditioning on, or in hotel room with the air on. It’s a beautiful place, but way too hot for a guy who lives on the Atlantic ocean coast.
@ it is HOT! We are from CO, so it is quite a change in climates for sure. Air conditioning helps. I feel like being off the ocean helps the heat not feel so hot? When we visit FL, it never feels as hot as it does in ATL.
@@thepostofficeprince8819 yep. We are FO fans. So you like that they come with the lights? Recently, I saw a comment that someone made asking if FO could make the lights optional? We like the lights with FO.
@ I saw that same comment! Yeah I like them a lot just in some of their earlier sets you had to squish the wires between bricks and it ended up breaking my light kit on 2 sets. Now they don’t have that problem anymore.
@ yes- we built at least one of the earlier sets where we worried about the wires breaking. Luckily, we didn’t have that problem, but could see where that was a possibility for sure. Now they have done a much better job with them and having the right piece to protect the wires more!
I have lego sets bought since year 1998. Quality stays the same of those old parts.only extra small parts became brittle. I' m interesting if funwhole will last so long. As todays by my opinion funwhole quality is the same as lego. But for me they are more interesting than lego...
@@zazanikuradze8829 the brown we knew were brittle- interesting about the small parts becoming brittle. It will be interesting to see if that happens with other brands as their sets start to age. We agree that FO has done some very interesting builds and are excited about their future. We also speculate hat FO will become as collectibles as LEGO are currently in the future. Thanks for your perspective!
The reason LEGO will not do military sets, espeically WW2 is due to the family history during the war and having experienced nazi occupation. The original lego owner and son afterwards have wanted to steer away from those theme.
Pre 20th century weapons like the cowboy revolver are ok in their book but not modern weapons. They made the exception for star wars guns fue to licenses issues but try and stay away as much as possible from war themes.
I mean, they say that, but they're just simply hypocrites. They're fine with antique weaponry, medieval weaponry, and space weaponry. Their most lucrative theme is all about a war, merely one in space. Their excuse about "family history" is nothing but BS.
I've been hearing the Legos looking forward to design with Star Trek after getting an agreement with universal. am I happy? I don't think so. Star Trek didn't need this.
@@sky0kast0 we heard this as well. Interested to know how it will turn out. Also interested in what they will be building although…. It seems really less relevant than it would be at other times? I could be wrong, as an older individual I like the idea of the Enterprise being done in bricks. What makes you unhappy about it?
Suck of all stickers lego has and they dont reproduce them they should have a way to reorder them and new brands are printed plus sick of the star wars remakes there are plenty of sets they can do but keep remaking the same things
@@benjaminpriest4243 we agree that they need to diversify more and make some cooler sets. Also, not sticker fans!!!! We are Star Wars fans, so we don’t mind them so much. Thanks so much for commenting, watching and sharing your thoughts!!!!
I have some Lego sets (primary the Amusement Park and some trains). The only non-Lego pieces that I had is the big plate (IIRC it's the 32x32 plate, not the "slim version" from Lego). Then, years later, I bought some tiles (2x2, 2x1, 2x6), the color didn't match exactly, but it's way cheaper and now I can finally build some paths, roads, bike-line. I also 3D-Printed some rails/tracks, and it's working fine. Now, I'm thinking about getting some non-Lego trains (from Forange and from Kazi), but some trains from Kazi don't have window, which is weird. I really liked Funwhole Steampunk series, and some builds from MouldKing, and specially CaDa related to "City"/"Modular". But, currently, I didn't bought any non-Lego set.
@@FrequenciaJogos I love the idea of 3D printing pieces as well. We have a 3D printer, but still am not completely comfortable with printing- we need to spend more time to hone the abilities to do that. We had a LEGO train for under the tree and somehow it got lost in our move years ago 😭. Recently we have looked a Mould King for a train replacement, but we are huge FO fans. and are finding that despite our love for LeGO, we are really appreciating the alt brands for their price point and their creativity. Thanks for your comment and thoughts! And for watching! 🙂
FO fan here, too. High quality bricks, for some time now only prints = no stickers, sensational lighting solutions (looks so awesome in display cabinets). Got 25 FO sets built so far.
Anyway, the new LEGO modular tudor style will be mine soon.
@@SethZones Thanks for watching! We need to look at that modular a little closer from LEGO, it isn’t on our to buy list. What is your favorite FO set so far? We agree with you- FO is awesome and we love their printed pieces and awesome lights.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds My favorite FO set so far? Always the one I built last. 🤣 For real: The Record Store and the Cyber Appartment are fighting for the crown... but probably only until I built the motel I guess.
Current build is Pantasy's modular Baker Street 221B Apartment. No lights (*aaargh*) but best brick quality on the planet imho.
@ we have the Baker Street by Pantasy- haven’t built it yet. Greta to know it is a good one! We have the Record Store- haven’t built it yet 🤣. And the Motel is coming- we are looking forward to that one too!
I've read that "price per gram" is a more accurate metric than "price per piece", as it takes into account the variation in piece size. Something to consider.
@@Ogre6972 definitely something to consider! Thanks for the perspective. It makes sense when taking into account larger pieces with smaller ones too.
Genuinely, I think the best reason for me at least really does come down to not only price and theming but also technique and quality. Just look at anything in funwholes range. The lighting kits alone paired with some genuinely fun builds with good clutch and unique pieces. and generally at half or less the cost of an equivalent set from lego....
@@miharu654 thanks for watching and commenting. Bricks without good quality and clutch are PAINFUL to work with!!! We had one recently that we DNF because it was so painful to put together! FO is awesome for price point and quality!
Something I think is the case is that sometimes the alt-brands don't have every piece that Lego makes, but alternatively they do make pieces that Lego does not make, or in colours that Lego haven't applied to them. So that's something. Also a lot fewer stickers, and with included light kits (and specialised pieces to accommodate them).
@@GuanoLad we have been doing pick a brick with WeBrick and have been successful finding 95% of the bricks in the colors that we wanted so far. The pieces I couldn’t find - an alligator- which I had to get through Bricklink because LEGO doesn’t currently sell that piece either. They were out of a color in a parasol, but they had the part. A couple other pieces they had but were out of stock. If you haven’t checked them out, we have really liked them and they also sell GoBricks pick a brick too.
Agree with less stickers and the lighting that is included with FO is getting better all the time.
Thanks for your comments!
Pantasy made the wise decision to not include minifigs in their modular compatible sets. Keeps the cost down, and they know most of their customers won't like the designs they come up with [FO minifigs - ya either love or loathe them! :P ]. I'm all for that - use Lego minifigs in the alt brands' builds as they work just fine...
That’s been my philosophy as well. LEGO minifigs fit in really well with alt brand modulars in every theme.
@@thebrickhiker yeah. We have a few Pantasy sets that we need to put together and agree- finding a Minifig that people will like is difficult. We got the Sherlock Holmes modular and the Brickheadz that they created - looking forward to building them!
The FO minifigures have already grown on me and I find them cute, collectable in their own right, and the prints on them are just excellent.
Their overall shape and their faces (mainly the eyes) kind of remind me of characters from certain old-school European cartoons and comics. 🙂
Figs are like 80 cents each on AliExpress, it doesn’t cost much to include them..
I like the funwhole figures too. I got the “LED minifigure” free gift that came with 3 figures and it’s awesome. One is holding a torch that lights up.
I like Mould King for some of their technic looking sets, but I want to look at Fun Hole for their medieval and modular sets. I just don't want to pay over $300 for Lego sets going forward.
@@Zorogundam19 Mould King is a solid choice for certain.
Yeah, paying north of $250 or $300 for a modular from Lego is getting hard to do. Funwhole at $100-$150 is very reasonable.
Lego Pro: There is a market for used Lego, both complete sets and pieces. I bought my Market Street used off the ‘Bay. The first owner got to build it, enjoy it for a while, then get most of his money back.
@@jimm244 there definitely is a market for used LEGO and LEGO bricks hold/increase in value as time goes by. That is something we mentioned off camera as a plus for LEGO over alt bricks.
You don't need to step away, you can still get the good/decent sets as well as buying the best alt brick sets. Its not just the price/piece...its also what pieces you get and the design and build. FO is cheaper (not as much, it seems in UK compared to eg US savings) but ot does also provide great lighting bricks and solution.
@@alanbuxey we still buy both- just made a LEGO order yesterday; as well as an alt brick order. Another person who commented said “build what you love.” We love this sentiment. We also feel like the market and collectors truly drive the prices for LeGO. People are complaining about a $1000 Death Star, but they will sell every single one of them and do well- why? People love LEGO, they love Star Wars, and FOMO 🤣. Truthfully, we a set we love and we remember the Black Pearl and how we never got it when it was new and now it is worth soooo much. Thanks for commenting! FO is amazing and we really love their sets too.
Good video! I would disagree with a couple points:
1) Parts quality: Lego has very noticeably been slipping in recent years, with brittle parts, color inconsistency, bad prints, missing parts, etc. On the other hand, current sets from Cobi, Pantasy, or Funwhole usually have better quality control all around.
Similarly, the manuals from Cobi or Funwhole are actually better in terms of clarity and user friendliness.
2) IP: Alternative brands run the gamut from outright counterfeits and unlicensed knockoffs (Lepin) to totally above-board licensing. Cobi, Pantasy, Funwhole, BlueBrixx, and Cada, for example, have partnerships with major franchises and companies.
To me the only real advantage of Lego is its resale value for investors. But just in terms of hobby enjoyment, the competing brands are doing some amazing stuff for way lower prices than Lego, and it makes zero sense to stick with Lego exclusively unless you're only interested in the franchises to which they have rights.
@@SO-ym3zs great points! Brittle brown is definitely an issue with LEGO. We had missing parts with Cobi and FUNWHOLE so far, not Pantasy, but have only done one or two yet.
Definitely have some great companies that are licensing and doing it correctly- completely agree with Cobi, not sure I have seen FUNWHOLE do licensing (could be totally off base- BUT love that they are doing their own designs and being original for sure)
@@SO-ym3zs and AGREED that LEGO holds value and investing- I think we will find this for other companies as well in the future and look forward to seeing that happen, because they are doing great work!
@@CurKymBrickBuilds You're right, iirc, no licensing from Funwhole (yet), but the others mentioned do it.
Given the presumed complexity of getting hundreds or thousands of correct parts into each set, the overall quality control of all the brands under discussion is amazing. But when Lego is charging double what some of other brands do, they better be darn near perfect, and in recent years, I've actually had a lot more problems with their sets than any competing brands. A far cry from years back when I could open any Lego set and know all parts would be there, match in color, etc. I know I'm hardly alone with that experience. The color inconsistency in particular has been widely commented on.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds I could easily see that happening, too, particular with Funwhole, who have rightly been generating a lot of buzz with theirs sets. Once more people catch on, a secondary market could develop for their sets. Personally, my chief interest is in theme, design, quality, and price. Whether or not I can resell a set isn't as important.
@ same. I want a good price point and something that I enjoy looking at. The resell is not important! Thank you so much for the great convo!!!!
As a long time Lego collector (build and display), I was already bummed about the emergence of the 'investors' market (around 2012 (thank you ebay))) and when Lego did their massive price increase in 2022 I began looking at alt. brick brands. I didn't take the 'plunge' until late 2023, and this year, while still buying several Lego models, I've actually purchased more alt. brand products, and have found the quality of both FunWhole and Pantasy to be 100% comparable with Lego. Considering Lego has been moving more of their manufacturing to lesser expensive Countries for years now (the US is supplied by Mexico, and I've read recently that more are being brought in from China), they've certainly brought their cost down dramatically, yet have still been increasing prices. When you can buy fantastic, high quality models for half the price, with fantastic designs, clever build techniques, better manuals, printed pieces, lighting kits, and for half the price (if not even more), it simply doesn't make sense to avoid alt. brands if you're an adult fan of brick building.
@@jeffc4862 thanks for sharing your thoughts! We agree! Interesting to know that LEGO has moved their production as well.
In a few months, TLG will be opening the Virginia Lego factory up [they are hiring - see a special VA Lego website for job openings :) ], which will continue to help keep their costs low, and avoid some potential tariffs. But I doubt this will result in a lower cost for us consumers. :(
I've been a fan of Lego since the 70s and never had a Dark Age. If anything, I feel this is the beginning of a slow burn dark age for me, due to their increasing ratio of sets that lack value to me.
Yes, I think that is what folks like us have discovered, brick build g rather than LEGO building. Once your worldview changes you open your self up to incredible sets. People have to remember they’re not cheating on LEGO🤣.
@@csg2745 Brand loyalty/dependency is something every company strives for - what's interesting about Lego is that they've had that for years, yet as an already expensive product, they've blown up their prices further, and fixated on more expensive/higher piece count models while neglecting price ranges that would appeal to more average income collectors. They pretty much created the market for alt. brands by neglecting an extremely large demographic. I think FunWhole's emerging success is due to filling that void.
All these brands are using the same Go Bricks..
When it comes to bulk bricks… bluebrixx got lots of part packs at good prices. So if I need just a bunch of grey bricks they got packs of 50, 100, 200, 1200 depending on the size of the piece (also assortments and even theme specific, like beach building wedgeplate selections) you want and in many other colours that Lego doesn’t do. They also have pieces Lego doesn’t make like plates with studs on both sides. So good for MOCs if you want to build less bulky snod. Also they have a Stargate license, and really nice medieval sets… if I want particular pieces or minifigs I go Bricklink or PaB of course… and the Chinese make really good Anime minifigure nockoffs with better printing than Lego.
@@andregundel3345 we will have to go check out bluebrixx, thanks for that! We have had great luck with WeBrick. We do Bricklink when we need to find specialty pieces- definitely gets expensive that way with all the shipping costs, minimum buy limits, etc. we usually add some minifigs we are interested in to make it a little more palpable. We tend to go to Amazon as well when we need something fast- WeBrick has a presence on there. Thanks! Going to check them out now!
@ it‘s a German company. So for Americans shipping might be a bit of a decision factor. They have a English version of their website but in general it’s not the best browsing experience. But they do know how to make good sets. They distribute Yong nap and others in Europe as well. I think Mouldking is also owned buy them since this year. If rumours are correct LEGO took the Star Trek license away from them. Bluebrixx had it the last 3 years and paramount or whoever owns it now didn’t want to renew it. It’s a bit of a shame because their Star Trek ships where well build, especially the minifigure scale shuttles (without minifigs). Their minifigures in general are not my cup of tea, too round for my taste.
@ yeah, I did check it out, probably not the best place for us to purchase in the US. Bummer about Star Trek. Their sets look amazing actually! it is hard to compete with the LEGO minifigs.
4:55 im never gonna give you up
@@SkyKid002 did you just Rick Roll us back? 🤣 Thanks for watching.
@CurKymBrickBuilds you started it 🤣😭
@ true story!
When you look at the value in a set, consider how many of those parts you already have, or can get very cheap in bulk MP purchases. Then price what your buying considering what you will get but don't already own. Those special parts become very expensive.
@@LivingAlbumPhotos agreed! That was a little of what we were commenting to on another person’s post. We picked a brick for our Haunted Mansion MoC that we got off Rebrickable- it costs us around $700ish to make it after pick a brick then finding specialty pieces off of rebrickable- paying shipping prices off Rebrickable. Having a set together is more affordable. Good perspective! Thanks for bringing it up!!
Great, well put together video, but it's a testament to Lego's ridiculous market dominance that this is even a question. Do we only watch Universal movies? Or only read Penguin books? Lego has spent years convincing the world that it's a mono-industry; that only they have the right to make models using bricks. I remember when I was going to buy my first non-Lego set and I felt guilty about it - like I was betraying Lego. How crazy is that? I'd internalized a corporate marketing strategy. Amazing work from Lego, but incredibly subtle and toxic. Buy what looks cool and that you enjoy. Don't be brand loyal, be happiness loyal.
@@bennydeckard interesting take. I definitely feel like LEGO purists make people feel this way as well. We felt a little guilty as well straying from LEGO. I like the saying- “be happiness loyal”! Thanks for sharing!
Spot on, I felt like I was cheating on Lego when I bought my first non Lego set too😂😂. It’s defa psychological thing.
I think people stick with Lego because up until just a few years ago, other brands quality wasn't up to par. Even Mega had problems with connections being too tight or too loose. Now that other brands have the same quality, Lego Purists r starting to realize they can buy other brands now. As someone who only collects Lego StarWars, I stick with them cause they hold the license. Not to mention the mini figure is a staple in the brick building community
@ I definitely think LEGO is not going anywhere, but alt bricks are absolutely stepping up. Companies like Pantasy, FO, Mould King, LOZ, and others are making great bricks that fit together well and are being more creative at times with their offerings. I addition, their price point is making people stray. LEGO Star Wars is something that we enjoy as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and watching.
Thanks for making this video.
@@AdamVogel-d5b thank you 😊
Resale value of Lego. Resale value of retired Lego. Resale value of used Lego. I’ve no idea what the resale value of alt bricks would be, but I imagine the margins are slim.
@@AdamBurgess-p3g yes- agreed. Thanks for commenting and watching!
We talked about including this in the video and decided not to.
Example- Mould King Castle that we just purchased was around $400 when it was sold, but on secondary market, as a retired set, we got it for $240 with no shipping fees. This was a HUGE box, so the reseller either lost money, got a huge deal on it at one point, or was a store owner that never sold it and was trying to recoup their money. So, margins there were either negative or cost.
We predict that there are some companies that we will start seeing a better margin of resale as we move forward- I.e. FO, Pantasy, Mould King - as people start to purchase other alternative bricks because they like to build and LEGO just isn’t producing everything that they want in their collections.
Frankly, FO is a leading contender- we feel that, but also many commenters actually think they are outperforming LEGO. They are a smaller company, so it will be interesting to see them grow and see how that happens. Bigger corporations are often top heavy and start to forget their origins and why they became popular in the first place as the person who started it either sells or becomes removed from the day-to-day operations.
Anyway- LEGO is absolutely the resell market’s darling. Look at the Black Pearl- sold for $100 in like 2012 (?), now new in box is close to $1000 (it is close or there depending on seller).
@ I’ve only been buying and selling for 6 weeks. The buying is mostly easy, the selling for a mark up is the hard part. I’m nowhere near buying in bulk, so it’s a couple of this set and a couple of that. Smaller sets year round and bigger sets to sell in the run up to Christmas, is my plan
another factor to stay with lego is resale value and possible appreciation. id like to see a price per piece for ip set vs non as im not into ip at all and i feel like thay would bump the price up
@@hthring agreed- resale and appreciation is absolutely a good reason to stay with LEGO. We talked about it, but didn’t include in the video. We feel that FO is up and coming, possibly Pantasy as well- we expect there will be a collector’s market started and appreciation occurring there too. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I feel the plus side you also get with FO is that they have printed bricks where as lego rarely do and mainly have stickers which I hate.
@@icekitty400 I agree- hate stickers! Love that FO has printed pieces. I am always happy when the alt brick builds have printed pieces rather than having to place stickers!! Thanks for watching and commenting!
FO convert here- ❤ Lego, but the prices are high and the western theme that FO has is awesome. Cool video- subscribed 👍
@@emmonstrex65 thank you! We are FO fans as well. We love their lodges and houses. We also really like the new skate and vacation sets.
Great video. Very informative. You have a new subscriber.
@@concordfoods thank you! Welcome. We appreciate your support!
FunWhole is the finest on the market.
Do not hesitate.
@@pbosche We think that FO is amazing as well. Thanks for sharing!
The amount of AliExpress knockoffs that are just as good means I’m never buying Lego ever again
@@no.ca5270 Ali Express has a great selection for sure! Have you found a favorite? Thanks for watching and commenting!
One thing to keep in mind with Lego, is that TLG spreads the licensing costs across *all* themes. There is no IP Tax on IP-based sets. TLG simply prices the sets at what they believe the market will bear. This is why you get some crazy high prices for Marvel and Star Wars; it is not due to Disney Tax [there are plenty of inexpensive sets from both IPs], it is because they know people will spend $80 to get a Red Hulk set or $500 to get a Jabba barge set.
Granted, they don't get everyone's money [I am very picky on what I buy these days when sets are priced crazy].
Also price per piece can be a difficult thing to judge a set's value by. The $20 City sailboat set you showed, has a very pricy part - the sail. And a stud is a lot less costly for TLG to manufacture than a large panel piece or a BURP.
@@thebrickhiker interesting. Thanks for sharing that perspective. Definitely, people are buying the sets that are Disney and Star Wars and willing to pay a higher price for those. We are getting choosier on what we are spending money on as well lately.
Great review. Greetings from Republic of Georgia...
@@zazanikuradze8829 thank you! Greetings!
That's the Georgia with Tbilisi. Not the Georgia with Atlanta, right? 😀
@subraxas yes! Republic of Georgia 😀
@@zazanikuradze8829 🙂 👍
I would say while most alt bricks have bad figures, mega bloks recently has blown lego out of the water. And they have halo and fallout. Although they seem to be going through a rough patch right now.
@@Doonut-77 we just built a Mega Blocks Audi Hot Wheels - the video is getting ready to come out soon. We liked the blocks as well. Fallout and Halo is not something we have ventured out to, so below our radar- but definitely there is a big audience for those themes. Thanks for commenting and watching!
but there's an alternative for the Lego rule of no guns, war, etc... that's what MOCs are there for :) fan made instructions, etc...
@@anomalouschaz we support MOC builders as well. We have purchased plans from ReBrickable from MOC creators, from MOC creators personally, and I personally plan on learning the software so that we can create some designs eventually- work is always getting in the way. There are companies like Mould King and Cobi that have done great plans for war aircraft and guns. Pick a Brick- whether on WeBrick or LEGO or Bricklink is always more expensive than being able to buy a set that is put together. Our Haunted Mansion MOC that was picked up a brick cost close to $750 when said and done (that was all LEGO parts)- it is a set that may cost more like $300-$350 when boxed by a company. Plus the plans cost money as well. We just purchase plans for 16 Brickheadz from a designer. They cost $20- his intellectual property and skill is worth it don’t get me wrong. But pick a brick cost about $200 (this time we used WeBrick) for them when Brickheadz are usually around $10 a piece when boxed by a company. A similar experience for a couple of other MOCS we recently picked a brick for- but that is the only way they are available. We have also supported MOC builders through the LEGO ideas program and purchased Bricklink Ideas winners sets. So many talented designers out there!
Honestly, the hardest part about pick-a-brick is when you buy for multiple projects and have to sort.🤣 That takes a while! Also, when parts used are from sets that do not have available sale parts or colors - so you have to purchase from multiple sellers on Bricklink- that gets expensive and time consuming (mostly due to all the shipping fees).
All this time say - MOC builders are awesome and we suggest supporting them, but it is never as cost effective as being able to buy a boxed set from a company. And it is always less time consuming to get a boxed set. ☺️
Thanks for sharing and reminding people of the awesome MOC builders out there! They are worth everyone’s time to go check out!
I have a modest lego city. Yes lego is pricey I've kept away from IP stuff entirely. Fun hole with the lights looks amazing. Definitely want to check out something from them. I recently did a Christmas scene pick a brick & used lego stores got me all the white slopes & bricks I needed. For MOC builders not sure if any other brands let you buy bulk parts
@@JimBobaroni you can pick a brick from WeBrick and we really have had a good experience with them. We have a pick a brick Haunted Mansion MOC made with entirely LEGO pick a brick. WeBrick allows you to pick a standard brick or a premium brick- which is GoBricks. We have had great luck with finding pieces that we need. We recently bought plans from designers on ReBrickable and Instagram for Brickheadz and we picked all the bricks from WeBrick.
FO is worth the look- we really like them!! We are LEGO modest as well, but love their Disney builds and Star Wars builds.
Getting into the MOC scene once I learn more about the build program- any advice on that?
@CurKymBrickBuilds sounds like you have a good handle on that already. Have to check out Gobricks. I really like small brick city on UA-cam. The videos are like years old but great small builds like photo copiers desks etc. The buildings are on a smaller scale great if you don't have the space.
Good video. Many Alt Bricks sets come with light kits and printed pieces.
@@rexrogers4588 definitely. Thanks! I just built two of them with amazing printed pieces that were really important to the build. Like that way better than having to use stickers. The lighting is something that we think that LEGO can definitely step up on.
The new Funwhole Skate Shop has some of the best printed pieces I’ve ever seen.
One reason I’ve heard for sticking with Lego is that alt Lego bricks might have sharp edges, which makes it difficult or even harmful to work with.
@@ericlizama8552 we’ve never run into that particular problem with “normal” (LEGO) sized blocks but definitely have with mini blocks. Those hurt your fingers after an hour or so.
@@ericlizama8552 interesting. We haven’t found that to be the case at all so far- the worst experience - and only with two LEGO alternative sets is that the grip is awful- too tight or too loose. Also, the build design choices made it difficult to continue building because it just didn’t fit quite right. It was like they designed with the computer but never implemented it in person to see how it really worked out.
We recently put together a LEGO alternative brand where my fingers felt like I had arthritis after. The bricks were very difficult and didn’t want to hold together. I posted about it- it is in a box and it probably will be parted out. I haven’t had those experience with minibricks- the sharp edges, but definitely after too much building, my fingers can get a little sore because they have less surface area to push on. I find it I more a surface area of the brick to surface area of the finger issue rather than a sharp edge issue.
I love the video, thank you for posting. I have built several mould king and funwhole sets< both are amazing! Baka seems to be excellent as well. I have yet to put together the Pantasy Steampunk clock tower, but really looks great. I am building an amusement park and lego just doesnt have enough sets to accomodate my layout.
@@BrickobieLakePark love that you are building an amusement park. Would love to see that. I have seen some fun sets on Ali Express with that theme in mind! Thank you!
Fun Whole is AMAZING!!
@@tommy516 AGREED!!!! Thanks for joining in the convo. We love it!
@@CurKymBrickBuilds just about finished with my first set the music shop, the lighting is so well engineered. The bricks are quality as others have mentioned, as well.
@ we have the record shop, all of their houses that are cabin-y, the skate shop, and the cyber apartment and the motel are ordered and on the way. We really think that FO will start to become a collector’s market item and in the future we may start to see them have LEGO standing. We agree with you completely!
I like official lego because it has good resale value
@@ISO8Legionaire that is definitely a plus! Honestly, I feel like FO is up and coming and we may start to see a collector’s market for their sets as well
I hope so.
Yeah, that's why I stick with Lego. If I decide to leave this hobby, I can get my money back, if not turn a profit.
@ makes sense, for sure! We get that. Actually found a set we are excited about by Mould King that is no longer in production and new in box is being sold for less than original retail. So if resale is important, definitely is a factor. We bought all the LeGO friends sets for our daughter and sold them to the neighbor for what we purchased them for. We probably could have got a lot more for it. We just are enjoying our sets for now. Thanks for joining in the convo!
Quality wise... LEGO is 2nd IMHO.
When you have FO making _all_ printed pieces for their sets
vs LEGO's infamously humongous sticker sheets (34 stickers on a $25 set with 280 pieces!?!) ... the embossed "LEGO" logo on every stud doesn't cut it anymore.
LEGO is number 2 in my book.
@@jonathanmarois9009 thanks for commenting! We are absolutely FO fans. Printed pieces are soooo much better than sticker sheets, we agree.
I wouldnt say that LEGO don't release enough sets. Sure, if you are into specific collections then you won't get many per year but the flipside is the complaints they'd get from people if they release eg 3 modular sets per year 'i cant afford to buy them all and they aresold out by the time I've saved' many people don't have over $1000 per year to spend on LEGO , or any alt-bricks for that matter
@@alanbuxey they did drop over 200 new sets this month- you are right- they aren’t necessarily things that we are into. Affording to buy them is definitely an issue! Thanks for the commenting and perspective!
I just ordered the Pantasy Sherlock Holmes set this morning, through Amazon. It will arrive in 10 days, to Canada, which is fine. It is a “licensed set “ and yet was still only $105.00 CDN. So apparently having licensed sets isn’t as expensive as Lego tries to make us believe it is???
I have a large “Lego City” , with all the Modular’s (about half real and half copies), which doesn’t bother me in the least. I started about 7 years ago, as my retirement hobby, and half the Modular’s were already in the after markets, at ridicules prices, I certainly couldn’t afford on OAP. Lego’s greed is due to being “top heavy “.
I worked in a large manufacturing company, where a hand full of executives and managers….. made more income than the 500 employees who worked under them. Lego is the same, fancy campuses, buildings and teams of “designers” sitting around all day playing with bricks.
Also, in the city theme…..most of it is just junk. One modular a year and a bunch of “Friends” sets. I have gotten into the Medieval theme and many of the “other” brands are making way better sets that Lego.
In the end….it doesn’t matter how nice a set is….if I can’t afford it. Cheers from 🇨🇦
@@MrPolleyr hi! Nice to hear from you. Thanks for watching and commenting! We picked up the Pantasy Sherlock Holmes set as well. Great deal! We got the Brickheadz too.
It is probably not as expensive as they make it, or maybe some franchises are more expensive than others? I imagine Disney is probably an expensive license?
Interesting in LEGO being top heavy- I imagine that is true. We went to go look for the Black Pearl and Modulars and agree that they are super ridiculously expensive and out of reach at this point for us too. We are working on our city, but have a lot more FO sets to add to it.
@ Honestly, the only difference I found between the knockoff versions and the Lego modulars is…no Lego stamp on the studs. Really, people come in to see my city, and unless I tell them some are not Lego, no one knows, even some Lego collectors.😜 I’m up in New Brunswick, next to Maine. Where are you located?
@ agreed. We have been purchasing pick a brick from WeBrick lately and no one could tell the difference. I love the idea of a city, we haven’t gotten there, even though we have Modular- we haven’t started MILS plating too. We are in GA- south of Atlanta.
@@CurKymBrickBuilds ….wow, that’s interesting. I spent a week in Georgia many years ago. I was in Covington visiting a friend. One thing I will never forget….how hot and humid it was. It was summertime and it was 98* degrees and 98% humidity. It spent most of the time in the pool, in the car with the air conditioning on, or in hotel room with the air on. It’s a beautiful place, but way too hot for a guy who lives on the Atlantic ocean coast.
@ it is HOT! We are from CO, so it is quite a change in climates for sure. Air conditioning helps. I feel like being off the ocean helps the heat not feel so hot? When we visit FL, it never feels as hot as it does in ATL.
All Funwhole sets come with a light kit too though..
@@thepostofficeprince8819 yep. We are FO fans. So you like that they come with the lights? Recently, I saw a comment that someone made asking if FO could make the lights optional? We like the lights with FO.
@ I saw that same comment! Yeah I like them a lot just in some of their earlier sets you had to squish the wires between bricks and it ended up breaking my light kit on 2 sets. Now they don’t have that problem anymore.
@ yes- we built at least one of the earlier sets where we worried about the wires breaking. Luckily, we didn’t have that problem, but could see where that was a possibility for sure. Now they have done a much better job with them and having the right piece to protect the wires more!
Mould King totally puts me off. They should better stop immediately with that counterfeited Star Wars stuff.
@@subraxas thanks for sharing your perspective!
Yeah, like he says in the video I’m not sure how they get away with that.
@@csg2745 Aye!
I have lego sets bought since year 1998. Quality stays the same of those old parts.only extra small parts became brittle. I' m interesting if funwhole will last so long. As todays by my opinion funwhole quality is the same as lego. But for me they are more interesting than lego...
@@zazanikuradze8829 the brown we knew were brittle- interesting about the small parts becoming brittle. It will be interesting to see if that happens with other brands as their sets start to age. We agree that FO has done some very interesting builds and are excited about their future. We also speculate hat FO will become as collectibles as LEGO are currently in the future. Thanks for your perspective!
In "Arachnoid star base " wings clatch( part 30231) became brittle...
The reason LEGO will not do military sets, espeically WW2 is due to the family history during the war and having experienced nazi occupation.
The original lego owner and son afterwards have wanted to steer away from those theme.
Pre 20th century weapons like the cowboy revolver are ok in their book but not modern weapons. They made the exception for star wars guns fue to licenses issues but try and stay away as much as possible from war themes.
Indiana Jones was the sole exemption and that really pushed the limit on the war theme, nazi and their internal policy.
@@jediagh good to know! Thanks for sharing that information. Makes sense with family history!
I mean, they say that, but they're just simply hypocrites. They're fine with antique weaponry, medieval weaponry, and space weaponry. Their most lucrative theme is all about a war, merely one in space.
Their excuse about "family history" is nothing but BS.
I've been hearing the Legos looking forward to design with Star Trek after getting an agreement with universal. am I happy? I don't think so. Star Trek didn't need this.
@@sky0kast0 we heard this as well. Interested to know how it will turn out. Also interested in what they will be building although…. It seems really less relevant than it would be at other times? I could be wrong, as an older individual I like the idea of the Enterprise being done in bricks. What makes you unhappy about it?
ua-cam.com/users/shortsCtPXsGBJe5w?si=mCSEojU--abGBjNh
@@BrickobieLakePark that is super cool!
Suck of all stickers lego has and they dont reproduce them they should have a way to reorder them and new brands are printed plus sick of the star wars remakes there are plenty of sets they can do but keep remaking the same things
@@benjaminpriest4243 we agree that they need to diversify more and make some cooler sets. Also, not sticker fans!!!! We are Star Wars fans, so we don’t mind them so much. Thanks so much for commenting, watching and sharing your thoughts!!!!
I have some Lego sets (primary the Amusement Park and some trains). The only non-Lego pieces that I had is the big plate (IIRC it's the 32x32 plate, not the "slim version" from Lego). Then, years later, I bought some tiles (2x2, 2x1, 2x6), the color didn't match exactly, but it's way cheaper and now I can finally build some paths, roads, bike-line. I also 3D-Printed some rails/tracks, and it's working fine.
Now, I'm thinking about getting some non-Lego trains (from Forange and from Kazi), but some trains from Kazi don't have window, which is weird. I really liked Funwhole Steampunk series, and some builds from MouldKing, and specially CaDa related to "City"/"Modular". But, currently, I didn't bought any non-Lego set.
@@FrequenciaJogos I love the idea of 3D printing pieces as well. We have a 3D printer, but still am not completely comfortable with printing- we need to spend more time to hone the abilities to do that.
We had a LEGO train for under the tree and somehow it got lost in our move years ago 😭. Recently we have looked a Mould King for a train replacement, but we are huge FO fans. and are finding that despite our love for LeGO, we are really appreciating the alt brands for their price point and their creativity. Thanks for your comment and thoughts! And for watching! 🙂