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I was cautiously optimistic until they said unequivocally that they'll be stopping all sales of BrickArms and other fan-made/third-party accessories. (And moral

I was cautiously optimistic until they said unequivocally that they'll be stopping all sales of BrickArms and other fan-made/third-party accessories. (And moralizing about not supporting "warfare and violence" while continuing to sell Lego Indiana Jones sets with rifle-toting Nazis.) This is probably going to kill BrickArms. Most of their sales are through BrickLink. https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/11/26/news-the-lego-group-acquires-bricklink-from-nexon-founder-jay-kim-for-undisclosed-sum-interview-with-lego-cmo-julia-goldin/ https://www.brothers-brick.com/2019/11/26/news-the-lego-grou...

xyzzy_plugh 7y ago
Stopping sales of BrickArms is a no-brainer. IIRC firearms are notoriously difficult to reproduce as models, both physically and digitally, due to the aggressive IP lawyering of manufacturers. Also I don't think LEGO wants to be in the business of selling models of actual named firearms. I think there is a massive divide between selling models of real life firearms versus models of firearms from films/entertainment IP. Context matters a lot.
- PhasmaFelis 7y ago
  > Stopping sales of BrickArms is a no-brainer. IIRC firearms are notoriously difficult to reproduce as models, both physically and digitally, due to the aggressive IP lawyering of manufacturers. Change the names to something generic. Problem solved. It's worked for dozens of popular video games, and BrickArms are much lower-detail even than those. When Lego's stance was "we don't make violent toys, period," that was something I could respect even if it wasn't my preference. Now their stance is "we don't make violent toys unless they're more than 100 years old or from the future or from Indiana Jones," and it's impossible to take that as anything but empty moralizing. They have, again, made sets with Nazi soldiers and recognizably modern firearms. For them to now say they won't endorse "guns and things that are potentially particularly connected to things like warfare and violence" rings utterly hollow.

xyzzy_plugh 7y ago

Stopping sales of BrickArms is a no-brainer. IIRC firearms are notoriously difficult to reproduce as models, both physically and digitally, due to the aggressive IP lawyering of manufacturers. Also I don't think LEGO wants to be in the business of selling models of actual named firearms. I think there is a massive divide between selling models of real life firearms versus models of firearms from films/entertainment IP. Context matters a lot.

PhasmaFelis 7y ago
> Stopping sales of BrickArms is a no-brainer. IIRC firearms are notoriously difficult to reproduce as models, both physically and digitally, due to the aggressive IP lawyering of manufacturers. Change the names to something generic. Problem solved. It's worked for dozens of popular video games, and BrickArms are much lower-detail even than those. When Lego's stance was "we don't make violent toys, period," that was something I could respect even if it wasn't my preference. Now their stance is "we don't make violent toys unless they're more than 100 years old or from the future or from Indiana Jones," and it's impossible to take that as anything but empty moralizing. They have, again, made sets with Nazi soldiers and recognizably modern firearms. For them to now say they won't endorse "guns and things that are potentially particularly connected to things like warfare and violence" rings utterly hollow.