VOTOMS Scopedog

Johnny Tang built the Scopedog mecha from VOTOMS in all its armored magnificence. The creation stands about 1.5 feet tall and features a furnished cockpit revealed in the video below.

Editor’s note: This creation incorporates large amounts of non-LEGO elements from a brand called BTR or “Built to Rule,” from Hasbro. Despite featuring “mixed media” creations from builders like nnenn, something with quite so many clone bricks is a first for TBB, and has sparked off an interesting discussion in the comments. Click through and let us know what you think. -AB

60 comments on “VOTOMS Scopedog

  1. stephendsdude

    Very EPIC creation. I love the flexibility and the bulkiness of the thing.

    Are those BTR elements that I see on this MOC?

  2. Creative Anarchy

    I’m not sure about mostly but yeah there are a ton of non-lego parts. I think the model would look very differrent in all-lego. Even if you could find suitable colored bricks, the just couldn’t have quite the same look. Still nice modelling regardless of what he used.

  3. Jai

    And now, I must see the Scopedog and Foundation mechas fighting each other. 8|

    Cockpit looks a little big to seat a minifig appealingly… but this is still one cool LEGO robot.

  4. Kevoh

    What happened to Bro-Bricks standards of quality? Even if this was pure-LEGO, it would be a rather unremarkable model.

  5. tian

    Finally! someone else who is in possession of BTR elements!!
    Although they aren’t LEGO, and I know that certainly can be a turn-off, they are the best clone-brand I have ever encountered and I don’t really mind them being non-LEGO. They nearly seamlessly mesh with LEGO elements.

  6. legocreatorguy

    ^ Not trying to do a “comeback”, but that was fail also.

    Sad what’s starting to become of the Brother’s Brick.

    It’s a nice model, but it would have been better if it were 100% pure.

  7. Daedalus

    As long as there are quality blogs of excellent MOCs, let the trolls come in and whine. They’re easy enough to ignore.

    I’d love to be able to put together something that detailed and retain such a wide range of motion, regardless of the bricks used. And the presentation was great to top it off! Not at all what I’d call ‘unremarkable’.

  8. Andrew

    Ignoring the smoke war for the moment, this post does bring up some interesting questions from an editorial standpoint.

    I personally draw the line with my own creations between LEGO-compatible, high-quality accessories made by fans (like BrickArms and BrickForge) and lower-quality products that compete with LEGO (like MB and BTR). I’ve even jokingly defined purist in our glossary as a “form of religious fundamentalism.” ;-)

    But where’s the line between “mixed media” brick creations by Nnenn and HAZEL that incorporate small numbers of non-LEGO elements, and brick creations like this one that appear to be largely built from non-LEGO elements?

    Perhaps the question could have been asked differently by Kevoh, and perhaps Nannan could have responded differently, but the substance of Kevoh’s question is valid, and worth exploring.

    If the poll were still functional, I’d put up a poll, but since it’s not, let’s discuss here in the comments.

  9. JD_Luse

    I think it’s all in the skill of the builder. I mean, this guy can build a mech! Yeah, he may have used some clone bricks, but he built something worthy of a TBB post.

  10. Ryan H.

    While I do think it’s an excellent creation in its own right, I don’t think things like this belong on TBB. TBB is a LEGO blog, and anything deviating too far from LEGO shouldn’t be here, in my opinion. Nnenn’s creations are fine with me; he does show excellent skill with OFFICIAL LEGO, and he doesn’t use clone brands as a crutch (most of his creations have none anyway), but more for adding the tiniest splash of uniqueness. It’s still mainly LEGO, though — unlike this. While saying so may be a bit of a stretch, if we let LEGO’s competitors become the majority focus of some posts, then it’s not a far step to blog other forms of models, non-stud-or-brick related. And then where is TBB’s integrity as a LEGO blog?

    This particular creation COULD be made nearly the same out of official parts, with a tweak here and there to fit TLG’s parts and colour palette. If someone were to do that, I would be pleased to see it here, and it would be just as well-built. But so-called “clone brands” have no place on a blog devoted to their competitor.

    That is all. :)

  11. Starwars4J

    Honestly while I can appreciation Nnenn’s work, I do prefer to see mostly pure creations. Hazel’s work tends to be similar to that of Brick Forge and BrickArms in being mostly accessories, and accessories are always fine to me. However something like this, I’d rather see some ingenuity in using the already-existing LEGO bits.

    That’s why I enjoy LEGO, as it’s about the art of figuring out how to get to the end product with a limited pallet of shapes and colors to work with. While this may be a decent build, I’d personally prefer to see pure LEGO here. Of course this is your blog and entirely up to you, but you did ask :)

  12. Rocko

    On principle I’m not opposed to people using mixed media for MOCs. The aspect that bugs me is that people using clone brands are compromising for lower quality elements. Although, after hearing about and experiencing so many low quality Lego produced elements over the past few years, the clones are starting to look better without getting better.

  13. eti

    That’s a tough one, really. For me, I draw the line exactly where Andrew does. I love using fan made accessories (only avoid them when it’s for a contest that says not to use them) and I would never use cheap clones. Actually I don’t have them and when I see those sets on the shelves of the euro store I’m not even tempted – when I see some areas of the Sluban website I am tempted, but no, I don’t.
    But the question is whether I should mentally impose the same rule on other people’s creations.
    I mean, I don’t use stickers either but if other people use them I’m not going to tell them off – so where do I draw the line here? What if people use clones for fillers? What if people use clones but only for parts Lego does not have? (I admit to owning about 5 Montini – cheap Dutch Lego compatible clone from the 70s – windows that I just haven’t used yet…) What if you need a curved, not flat car windscreen? Or an inversed slope with vertical indents in it?

    I am not going to comment about this creation itself because I don’t care for robots, bionicles, mechas or whatever all those two footed agressive looking fighting machines are called, and they’re all interechangeable to me anyway, however genious the build may be.

  14. munky460

    I agree with most of the comments here, about nnenn’s work including some knock-offs, and how this creation includs much BTR bricks, but I am too tired for this and have too big of a migraine so I will simply avert your attention to this video about flame-wars (Contains some strong language, not suitable for those under 13, which we are all over 13): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QyYaPWasos

  15. Eastwood1427

    Whilst I can’t say I have a problem with fan-made accessories and minifigs, I have to draw the line at non-Lego actual parts.

    It’s a very nice creation, don’t get me wrong, but I’m a purist, me. So I’m rather dubious as to whether this should be here.

  16. TooMuchCaffeine

    Although I’ve always assumed TBB was a blog about LEGO creations, I suppose the name makes clear that it is a blog about creations made with “bricks”. I suppose if there is something amazing which has been built with bricks, regardless of brand, then I’d want to see it. On that basis, this model belongs here if it is deemed amazing enough.

    However, I feel that you have to draw the line somewhere on the parts selection you will use, otherwise you diminish the challenge to yourself as a builder. Personally, my line is drawn at LEGO bricks and custom weapons (and cutting the odd bit of tubing).

    As a result, I am most interested in reading about creations built with a similar repertoire of pieces. I would be disappointed if TBB was to suddenly feature a whole load more posts featuring “other brands”, or for that matter, a bigger focus on customisation.

  17. Creative Anarchy

    I would really rather see pure lego creations. I think there is a certain ingenuity and creativity to using the palate of shapes and colors available. While models could be more accurate with exotics of clone brand bricks I have more respect for builders who make the representation work with Lego bricks. However I would never endorse a Lego-purist policy on the blog because I adore the 3rd party manufacturers like Hazel and Brickarms and I feel that many building styles are drastically improved with model decals and stickers. Hypocritical in a way I guess.

  18. RocketSlug

    Ok so I will contribute my 2 studs to this thread….

    When I left for college I left my lego collection at home with my siblings. I was a “purist” only because the knock-off brands did not have anything that interested me.

    My siblings however, were not so discerning. When I graduated, they gave the legos back to me, knock-offs and all. Now, I have since put together a few creations (which I will be uploading soon! As soon as I get a camera….) and I did not realize initially that a few of the pieces I used in mine were actually from competitors. This says something for their quality I will admit, but after a while I realized what pieces came from Lego and which didn’t. (I had been out of the loop for 4 years, so cut me some slack!)

    Now my thing is this- The fan-made, Lego compatible accessories are to me, the same level as using pieces from competitors. If the brothers are going to showcase models that use those elements, then I think competitor pieces should be allowed entry as well.

    Yes, it may be more “interesting” to see someone make use of Lego’s limitations and incorporate some nice SNOT work (I am picking up the lingo!) to produce an interesting model, but it is also possible (as shown here) to create interesting looking creations with non-standard pieces.

    As this is called “the brothers-brick” I think that anything being built with things resembling Lego bricks should be acceptable. I understand the “slippery slope” argument, but some people don’t have the resources to be “purists” and some people may just use what they have (like me!). I personally am no fan of the muted colors on the knock offs, but it really works with this creation.

    Just my 2 studs….

  19. stephendsdude

    I, personally, draw the line between LEGO bricks (customized or not) with high-quality compatible fan-renderings of LEGO items (EX: BrickArms). I dislike the combination of LEGOs and clones. I regettably made that mistake when I was younger. I combined my Mega Blocks with LEGOs and always finding another non-LEGO brick in my collection. Mega Blocks never seem to stay connected right…….

  20. fallentomato

    I’m really glad this creation got blogged. I don’t particularly care for it, but that has nothing to do with the non-lego pieces. There are plenty of “pure” models post on this blog that I don’t care for. But it’s not up to me what gets posted here, that’s the Brothers’ responsibility, and therefore this site is always going to reflect their personal tastes/interests. If they were all absolute “purists” then this post would be completely out of line with their site’s standards. I’m glad that they aren’t though, because I know there are many non-“purists” out there in our community and they are building cool things too and I’d hate for them to be completely ignored just because some of the small plastic interlocking building blocks they use are manufactured by different companies. If they started posting creations made out of non-compatible toys, that would be a cause for alarm.

    I think the posts a few weeks back of live animals with legos placed on them are more of a breach than this. This is at least a MOC.

    The reason I put quotation marks around “purist” is because it’s such a relative term. I remember back when Lego “purist” meant they only used “non-specialized” pieces. You don’t see many of those types of “purists” around anymore and I’m glad, the more diversity the better. There are so many different places people draw the purity line and usually they draw in a way that puts them on the pure side. It just smacks of elitism to me.

  21. legoadam

    To be honest, I’m not interested in this kind of creations. It is sheer cheating and they don’t amaze me at all. I’d rather not see them on TBB. People may create anything they like and others may enjoy those too. But I come here to see beautiful LEGO creations, not clone brands. If TBB goes that way, I will be one of those people who’d go to looking for other blogs. This is not about being purist or anything, I think this is a LEGO blog and I’ll keep checking as long as it stays that way. Maybe those non-purists should start a blog for themselves, The Clone Brothers Brick ?

  22. Morgan19

    *shrug*

    It’s The Brothers Brick, not The Brothers LEGO– last time I checked, these are bricks. I’m personally very interested in seeing what people are doing with clone/imitation/variation pieces like this as they can add a really interesting slant on the same-old, same-old.

    While this particular creation definitely has more clones than less, it’s nice to see things mixed up a bit and not just live in an all-LEGO bubble and ignore everything else out there.

    Like fallentomato said, I’m firmly in the “the more diversity the better” camp.

  23. LegoFace42

    All you ‘purists’ get over yourselves. You sound like whiney little girls who don’t like the dress of another girl ’cause she bought it at Target while you shopped at Bloomingdales. You do realize that the current Lego pieces are not the ‘original’ lego pieces don’t you? If you’re a real purist you couldn’t use any of the pieces from the past 10 years at least. The original lego’s never had technique pieces or fancy cockpit windshields like on the star wars sets or the whole Mindstorm and light bricks things.

  24. Peppermint_M

    Clever building is clever building, no matter what brand of bricks has been used.
    Mega Block bricks are lower quality, but some of their accessories have great moulding and paint application, something Lego seems to lack.
    Best-Lock, Cobi and Little White Dragon provide some very detailed tools in their sets, plus weapons that I don’t have to pay through the nose to get. I buy all these sets to add to my collection, using the tools and headgear from non-Lego is exactly the same as using Brick Arms gear.
    I also recently started separating out my Lego and Non-Lego (to avoid penalties in contests) and was quite surprised by what I found. While my ten year old MB bricks are “sugared” at the corners my 25 year old Lego isn’t. Then I found some Tyco bricks, they were cleaner, shiny and in better condition than their contemporary Lego bricks…
    All in all, if the clone provides what you want/need have no fear in using it.

  25. Chandler Parker

    Generally I dislike seeing the use of clone parts, and customization for that matter, but really, is it such a big deal? If I don’t like a entry that’s been blogged here then I’ll just skip over it, instead of complaining that it’s not my cup of tea. TBB can blog what it wants to, and, as long as it doesn’t degrade into a blog chock full of clone parts and pets, which I seriously doubt is a possibility, I’ll continue to read it support it.

  26. Daedalus

    I agree with Chandler’s thinking; if something on here doesn’t interest me, I don’t spend a lot of time looking at it. Personally, I don’t own any bricks but LEGO, and don’t expect that will ever change. I prefer MOCs made entirely with LEGO, no clones, no BrickArms, nothing, but I still enjoy seeing what people can do with them.

    Even though this piece is made with a lot of clone parts, it still falls in line with the standards Andrew set back in the April 12 blog. It’s a very nice representation of the source material (something relatively vintage in and of itself), it’s fairly large, is very well articulated, and the presentation in the video is great.

    Yes, there is a legitimate fear of the slippery slope. I don’t think any of us want to see anything more than an occasional MOC where clones are involved. Yet, if we as a community value brand exclusivity over creativity, we’re already on a slippery slope of a different sort.

  27. worker201

    Certainly seemed to me like Kevoh’s original complaint was about this model sucking, not about this model using a lot of competitor parts.

    I find it rather funny how many people are racing to nnenn’s defense. Even though he normally doesn’t use more than 2 or 3 well-integrated clones, he’s still the poster boy for clone construction. If he wasn’t so well loved, I think the clone argument might be a little more cut and dried.

    For the most part, I agree with Justin and Ryan – it’s all about the Lego. I don’t think a couple clones or a bit of extra plastic can hurt anybody, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. I guess it’s up to The Brick Brothers to decide where the line is, and they have to trust each other to apply the rules consistently and fairly. That is, if being consistent and fair are values that they, uh, value. Personally, I hope that they will choose to draw the line well south of this creation.

  28. legomason

    Seems to me that that other companies Dragon line had a great influence on the recent Lego castle.

  29. Kevoh

    Huzzah to Worker201 for actually reading what I wrote!

    This thread would have been much more interested if it was about the quality of the model, not another iteration of the repetitive “purity” debate with a blind-Nnenn-fanboy kicker.

  30. Andrew

    ^ Heh heh, true enough. I was personally continuing the discussion with those who misread your initial comment, moreso than responding to your actual comment. Personally, I agree with you — the gun and face both lack interesting detail, the shoulders are too angular, and the hands don’t do anything for me at all.

    I would personally have passed this over (especially given the clone bricks), but I trust Nannan’s taste overall and don’t usually dictate to our contributors what they can and can’t blog. I’m happy to defend his choice to blog this.

    As to the “blind-Nnenn-fanboy kicker”, also true enough (and cleverly put) — that seems like the perrenial final point from non-purists, doesn’t it? worker201’s point is also well made. Would someone like me be so tolerant of clone bricks now and then from others if nnenn himself weren’t such a nice guy? Probably not.

    Diving back in after a day or so, it’s interesting to see the diversity of opinion reflected in the comments so far. Having a bit of diversity of opinion among the contributors (Nannan’s and my diverging opinions on this MOC, for example) seems like a good reflection of the people we’re blogging for.

  31. Jai

    True.

    It is a strange conundrum for me to think about — on the one hand, I love the non-LEGO bits that have been constructed by fans simply to work with LEGO (Well, some more than others). But I don’t really like seeing them incorporated in what’s blogged (Except for when it’s a post solely ABOUT the new items available from BrickArms, etc.).

    I also like seeing big robots that SEEM to have been built out of LEGO. Or that they could be reproduced with only LEGO, if not for a few unfortunate parts. But the honest truth is that it bugs me to know that it is not LEGO. I don’t want to see it here.

    This is a site for LEGO fans, so building and selling custom pieces seems like it only supports LEGO — as fans ought to. Building models out of competitors’ products, however, strikes me as markedly anti-LEGO. So, logically, blogging those creations also seems anti-LEGO. In fact, you guys makes some money for the site by linking to LEGO’s catalog — so it seems like it would be a direct conflict of interests for all of the TBB contributers, to be blogging creations that use neat-looking pieces from direct competitors. It is, however, a greasy slope between “direct competitor pieces” and “fan-made pieces”. For instance, there are fan-made cows (And pigs) that came out a good while before LEGO started selling their own cows. Which cows are cheaper to get yer mitts on? Which design do you like better? The fans who were only supplimenting the available LEGO pieces at the time turned into what you could call a “direct competitor”. What do you do, then?

    Heck, I bought fan-made Star Wars weapons for the first series of LEGO Star Wars sets that came out. Those things were awesome, but then LEGO finally made their own Star Wars blasters. Do I only use the LEGO ones, now? Yes… except for the distinct weapons that LEGO hasn’t recreated. My LEGO Chewie has a bowcaster that looks like a bowcaster, thank you very much — the LEGO crossbow is no substitute.

    I’m sure that most fans who go to the bother of mass-production are sensible enough to not bite LEGO’s hand when it feeds them, though. It’s bad manners. And we’re fans.

  32. porschecm2

    Honestly, I’d rather this sort of thing not be blogged here. I’m fine with custom accessories, or the odd non-Lego part, but I read TBB for Lego models, not Lego-like models. This has little do with the discussion of whether or not off-brands are any good, or whether or not this particular model is any good. It’s sort of like my reading a Ford blog, and seeing Chevrolet cars. It’s just not what I came for.

    Having said that, I think I’d have to agree with Kevoh. This model isn’t that great–probably not really deserving of being blogged, regardless of purism. It’s a good frame, but it needs a lot of polishing.

    Cm2

  33. stephendsdude

    I fear I may have provoked a super long, very fiery, and quite interesting voice of opinions here.

  34. BubbaGoatboy

    Personally, I visit this blog as it’s a good round up of new creations which have been well presented and are (usually) of a high quality. I would not know of many great builders but for this blog as I am fairly recently out of my dark-ages.

    ..and as I am quite new to the community, I find the whole purist thing quite fascinating. Rival bricks are frowned upon, whereas customising bricks & using companies who produce ‘add-ons’ for lego most find fine.. hmmm. How far can you go with customisations as long as it’s lego? If I melt bricks down and mould them into new shapes, would that be acceptable?

    For me a good creation is a good creation, and I trust TBB to make those decisions. they don’t always get it right (I actually think this is one of the poorest models recently, although would prefer this to minifigs on pets), but the reason I visit every day is because 95% of the time they do.

  35. Thanel

    Like BubbaGoatboy, I find Purism fascinating; yet when I look through my collection, I only find LEGO, have no real interest in acquiring custom accessories and feel slightly uncomfortable about doing so. I guess you could call me a casual purist. I do acknowledge the difference between custom accessorizing and use of clone pieces, but I’m not quite ready to take the first step into non-LEGO elements. As far as second-guessing the blogging choices of a fellow Brother Brick? Not gonna touch that with a 10ft pole.

  36. gambort

    Kerouac’s Scopedog is pure, better and fits a fig. There’s a happy link for the quality complainers.

    As for the purism debate: TBB is a brick blog, not a LEGO blog. Personally I dislike custom stickers, accessories, painting and pets but somehow accept Big Bens Wheels so I’m probably the most purist blogger here. That doesn’t make me right.

  37. Jai

    I’m sorry, Gambort, but that’s patently ridiculous. “LEGO Blog” and “LEGO News” are right there in the page title. All of the sidebar links are only LEGO-related. I’ve only seen LEGO fans here, instead of people who get excited by MegaBloks or BTR. If this is a brick blog, as opposed to a LEGO blog, then I would expect to see links to competitor’s products, as well as blog posts solely about the products of competitors of LEGO. I doubt LEGO would choose Ambassadors with the help of a “brick blog, not a LEGO blog”. I also expect that I would stop coming here.

    Nice link, though.

  38. Eastwood1427

    @ Gambort, that’s a wonderful piece there. I have to say I like that a whole lot more. It looks more… well. Solid. Clunky. Achieveable, even.

  39. Andrew

    This continues to be an excellent discussion, but I’m ready to put my Editor-in-Chief hat on and clarify my own vision for what The Brothers Brick is and should be.

    I won’t call gambort’s distinction between “brick blog” and “LEGO blog” patently ridiculous, but I do want to state Jai is correct in identifying TBB as a LEGO blog. For me, that does encompass fan-created accessories, and I tolerate a few non-LEGO elements here and there, but — as examples — we would never feature product news about Mega Bloks except to poke fun at it (as we did with the Halo license announcement), nor do I think that a creation built mostly from non-LEGO elements has a place here.

    To be fair to Nannan, this isn’t something that I’d made explicitly clear to our contributors (thus my defence of his choice to blog it). Going forward, however, I expect our contributors to avoid creations that include more than a very small percentage of clone bricks.

    Feel free to continue the discussion, but that’s the editorial stance I’ve taken myself, and that I intend to apply as a guideline for everybody who writes for TBB in the future.

  40. LegoFace42

    Reading through what the so called ‘purists’ have to say I can surmise that they are either (a) immature, (b) mildly retarded/slow, (c)work for, or have stock in Lego, (d) juvenille, (e) mentally ill with some form of psychosis, (f) all of the above.
    But seriously, I get it with ‘purists’…they’ll only support the brand not the brick pieces even if someone does something spectacular with brick pieces. You know I bought the Lego Agents Dr. Inferno Robot and guess what…the little 4 wheeler had a rope/string to haul down the Robot. I guess we can use string now for our models since Lego (the all powerful and knowing) have deamed it so. Oh, but wait…it must be ‘Lego STRING’.

  41. Luke Chapman

    ^ Your neat little list of, what I’m presuming you deem to be, “negative” attributes is only slightly offensive, there.

    Plus string in Lego predates the minifigue, so go… figure.

    I guess I’m what you’d call a “purist”, I don’t know why, I just know I have an intrinsic aversion to clone brands and mutilating my precious LEGO, probably dating back to some childhood trauma.

  42. Marc Nelson Jr.

    Do people build with LEGO because they like creating models out of little plastic bricks, or because they have a deep and abiding love for a Danish toy company?

    I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, it’s the former. I don’t buy a lot of non-LEGO products because the colors don’t match (same reason I don’t own any bley).

    But if, like the majority of the AFOL community, you don’t care about the color change, why should you care about which corporate entity manufactured your building medium?

  43. fallentomato

    ^ I’d say it’s a little bit of both. Obviously people wouldn’t buy LEGO if they didn’t enjoy building the models (unless there’s someone out there with a house full of MISBs and nothing actually built), but the brand loyalty fans have for LEGO is clearly very strong.

  44. marnicq

    (I haven’t read all of the above so sorry if I say something that has already been said)
    I believe using clone bricks is quite lame …
    But just like one of my friends once said to me ‘what if the clonebrand has pieces that Lego has never produced, yet are really handy and have the same plastic quality and to lego fitting colours; then those bricks would be certainly really nice, and even more when they’re ten times cheaper!’
    I’d have to say he has a point in it, but I, personally, like pure Lego better (without customs, nor clonebricks)

    Anyway I do like this build, but pretty much the same thing could’ve been built in official Lego bricks (:

  45. eilif

    First post here at BB, but this one drew me in. I’ve been following BB for a year or so now, and it is clearly a site about the LEGO hobby. It’s covered such things as LEGO movies, LEGO events, LEGO MOC’s, LEGO clubs, LEGO food, LEGO employees, LEGO companies, LEGO pets, etc, etc. In addition to these, one of the things alot of AFOL’s like to do is occasionally mess about with LEGO clones.

    While I (and most folks) think that BB should be mostly focused on “real” LEGO, no real BLOG about the LEGO’verse is complete without the occasional mention of LEGO clones.

    So thanks BB for keeping a wide vision. I don’t want to see this kind of thing every day, but for taking a little risk (and pissing off a few purists) I say to thee BRAVO!

  46. EnduringCold

    Hi guys… I know I’m sort of late with my post, but I think that BTR bricks are the same as BrickArms, seeing as neither are Lego. All things considered, yes, BrickArms ARE nicer than BTR, but honestly, who are we to judge the quality of a mech based on the PARTS USED? I mean, yeah, okay, there were some Lego imitator parts used, but it’s still a great model with a lot of time and effort put forth, and hey, a mech’s a MECH. THAT is something to judge a model on, not the type of building block. I love Lego with my whole heart, but when people decide that it’s okay to judge something based on what was used than how it looks (and to discriminate against a spin-off Lego brand when another is considered perfectly acceptable?) seems unfair. I know I’m new to the Lego community (among Gods, I like to think), and my opinion is somewhat nigh, but it is a great model overall, regardless of pieces. If it makes anybody feel better, we could ask Mr. Tang to rebuild it as a Purist would? 8 ]

  47. gambort

    Andrew> My form of purism makes it hard to call this a LEGO blog. There are too many non-LEGO accessories posted here. Thus my reference to it as a ‘brick blog’. That said I suspect you’ll find I’ve posted the lowest fraction of non-LEGO brand elements of anyone here except possibly Dan ;) Which goes to show how silly the whole purism thing is.

    How does ‘brick blog with a strong focus on LEGO brand elements’ sound? ;)

  48. worker201

    “How does ‘brick blog with a strong focus on LEGO brand elements’ sound? ;)”

    Well, Tim, it sounds like a cop-out.

    I think off-brand accessories are not quite the same as clones. BrickArms, for example, are sold as bonus parts for use with Lego. MegaBloks, on the other hand, are sold as a replacement for Lego. That’s a pretty big difference. Therefore I don’t think it’s hypocritical to be a Lego purist and use BrickArms. So you can call it a Lego blog and still feature certain types of off-brand accessories.

  49. gambort

    ^ But what you think is acceptable mixing I consider to be just clone use… so why is your opinion more valid than mine? (NB. argument does not apply to Andrew whose opinion DOES count more than mine).

    I dislike BrickArms and would generally rather see oodles of neat MB parts than a BA gun. So no, not a cop out, just a statement that is more truthful than the ‘fan clones good, competitor clones bad’ argument.

  50. worker201

    Hmmm, it does seem like ‘cop out’ was the wrong phrase. Rather, it sounds like you’re making a statement about your feelings re: off-brand accessories which is both bold and subtle. Quite clever, carry on. Andrew’s such a nice guy that he probably appreciates the diversity of having a guy on staff who probably secretly thinks that he (Andrew) is a hypocrite for blogging about BrickArms on a strongly pro-Lego blog.

  51. gambort

    ^ I think we’re all hypocrites, or at least inconsistent. BBB wheels are fine by me, BA are not. I have a dressy argument for it but ultimately I think I’m just choosing what suite me.

  52. A Most Serious AFOL

    Ryan H says “if we let LEGO’s competitors become the majority focus of some posts, then it’s not a far step to blog other forms of models, non-stud-or-brick related. And then where is TBB’s integrity as a LEGO blog?”

    I bet you’re one of those idiots that buys the ‘weed is a gateway drug’ bullshit, too.

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