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I Must Attempt to Explain the Lego Scandal Rocking YouTube State of Utah

46 points by Cider9986 5mo ago

rawling 5mo ago
> This happens a couple times a year, such as in 2020 when the YouTuber Boogie2988 went to another YouTuber’s house and shot a gun into the air. Links to a Vice article stating that the opposite happened (other YouTuber came to _his_ house, Boogie2988 fired a shot to scare him off).
- bombcar 5mo ago
  The latter is correct, and pretty famously so.
Cider9986 5mo ago
Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136
trismus 5mo ago
This article doesn't seem to hit or clarify any of the major points around police and official corruption or the involvement of the Mormon church, which are in my opinion the most interesting part of this. There was a false report of heroin in a car where police identified the back seat passenger as Ben by name at the beginning of the search. They also arrested him while serving legal papers which is protected, and refused to serve the papers themselves.
- autoexec 5mo ago
  > This article doesn't seem to hit or clarify any of the major points around police and official corruption or the involvement of the Mormon church The article did mention an "extremely bizarre, 30-minute YouTube video" that was "quite possibly" made by the police department about the arrests which "must be seen to be believed" but then failed to link to it. Wikipedia lists some of the police stuff, including the "residential targeted picketing" thing which sounds like a possible first amendment issue. The article and the wikipedia page didn't say anything about the Mormons though. Can you summarize their involvement?
  - cluckindan 5mo ago
    The people stealing legos were Mormons. The cops defending the thieves and harassing the owners and investigators were Mormons.
  - enoint 5mo ago
    The Bricks and Minifigs CEO has a degree in psychology from Brigham Young University. The American Fork police are high school graduates, members of the LDS community. In the body cam footage, note how one refers to the other as “brother”.
longbrass 5mo ago
When corporations take all the carrots off the table, we are only left with sticks. Anyway, like and subscribe to my new woodcarving channel, now on YouTube!
gbraad 5mo ago
This is paid content, so I can't verify, but this whole saga around BAM is fishy. Not just what Ben points out, but also mgs brick. It feels this corporation profits unfairly over the backs of unknowing people. And let's be honest, it feels their church, community protects them, including the police.
- brokenmachine 5mo ago
  >this corporation profits unfairly over the backs of unknowing people Churches doing what churches do.
ionwake 5mo ago
Don’t work what’s happening here but that YouTube video explained everything and makes it look like a company just stole some dudes whole collection
autoexec 5mo ago
However this plays out the one thing I've come away with is that I want nothing to do with Bricks & Minifigs. It's a shame for the franchise owners that Bricks & Minifigs basically made the brand toxic over such a stupid issue they could have resolved so easily.
- busymom0 5mo ago
  I wonder if the franchise owners can sue Bricks & Minifigs?
  - autoexec 5mo ago
    I'm guessing that their franchise agreement would prevent it, but they have the ability I hope they take advantage of it.
ChrisArchitect 5mo ago
Related: Patreon Refuses to Remove YouTuber's Viral Lego Investigation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391430 Bricks and Minifigs Stole a Man's $200k Lego Collection https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136
uyzstvqs 5mo ago
Don't waste your attention on this pop-culture legal drama. While there does appear to be a legitimate case involving an unfortunate high-risk contract between a victim and a business franchise, anything published by this Reckless Ben character simply cannot be taken seriously. Ben's actions are nothing but targeted harassment, and only result in a weaker legal position for the victim. He consistently, and seemingly intentionally, chooses to misunderstand the law. When his actions have consequences, he goes so far as to sling wild conspiracy theories about corruption involving the police department. Ben's actual intention is to create drama content for clicks and views. This is also true for secondary sources like 404media, Dexerto, and Kotaku, as well as other YouTube creators like Penguinz0 and Asmongold. Ultimately they're all after $$$. Though not to defend this business either, as it should be obvious that anything involving high-value Lego collecting is similar to NFTs, but even more scummy and degenerate. It's weaponized nostalgia.

46 points by Cider9986 5mo ago

> This happens a couple times a year, such as in 2020 when the YouTuber Boogie2988 went to another YouTuber’s house and shot a gun into the air. Links to a Vice article stating that the opposite happened (other YouTuber came to _his_ house, Boogie2988 fired a shot to scare him off).

bombcar 5mo ago
The latter is correct, and pretty famously so.

Cider9986 5mo ago

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136

trismus 5mo ago

This article doesn't seem to hit or clarify any of the major points around police and official corruption or the involvement of the Mormon church, which are in my opinion the most interesting part of this. There was a false report of heroin in a car where police identified the back seat passenger as Ben by name at the beginning of the search. They also arrested him while serving legal papers which is protected, and refused to serve the papers themselves.

autoexec 5mo ago
> This article doesn't seem to hit or clarify any of the major points around police and official corruption or the involvement of the Mormon church The article did mention an "extremely bizarre, 30-minute YouTube video" that was "quite possibly" made by the police department about the arrests which "must be seen to be believed" but then failed to link to it. Wikipedia lists some of the police stuff, including the "residential targeted picketing" thing which sounds like a possible first amendment issue. The article and the wikipedia page didn't say anything about the Mormons though. Can you summarize their involvement?
- cluckindan 5mo ago
  The people stealing legos were Mormons. The cops defending the thieves and harassing the owners and investigators were Mormons.
- enoint 5mo ago
  The Bricks and Minifigs CEO has a degree in psychology from Brigham Young University. The American Fork police are high school graduates, members of the LDS community. In the body cam footage, note how one refers to the other as “brother”.

longbrass 5mo ago

When corporations take all the carrots off the table, we are only left with sticks. Anyway, like and subscribe to my new woodcarving channel, now on YouTube!

gbraad 5mo ago

This is paid content, so I can't verify, but this whole saga around BAM is fishy. Not just what Ben points out, but also mgs brick. It feels this corporation profits unfairly over the backs of unknowing people. And let's be honest, it feels their church, community protects them, including the police.

brokenmachine 5mo ago
>this corporation profits unfairly over the backs of unknowing people Churches doing what churches do.

ionwake 5mo ago

Don’t work what’s happening here but that YouTube video explained everything and makes it look like a company just stole some dudes whole collection

autoexec 5mo ago

However this plays out the one thing I've come away with is that I want nothing to do with Bricks & Minifigs. It's a shame for the franchise owners that Bricks & Minifigs basically made the brand toxic over such a stupid issue they could have resolved so easily.

busymom0 5mo ago
I wonder if the franchise owners can sue Bricks & Minifigs?
- autoexec 5mo ago
  I'm guessing that their franchise agreement would prevent it, but they have the ability I hope they take advantage of it.

ChrisArchitect 5mo ago

Related: Patreon Refuses to Remove YouTuber's Viral Lego Investigation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391430 Bricks and Minifigs Stole a Man's $200k Lego Collection https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48314136

uyzstvqs 5mo ago

Don't waste your attention on this pop-culture legal drama. While there does appear to be a legitimate case involving an unfortunate high-risk contract between a victim and a business franchise, anything published by this Reckless Ben character simply cannot be taken seriously. Ben's actions are nothing but targeted harassment, and only result in a weaker legal position for the victim. He consistently, and seemingly intentionally, chooses to misunderstand the law. When his actions have consequences, he goes so far as to sling wild conspiracy theories about corruption involving the police department. Ben's actual intention is to create drama content for clicks and views. This is also true for secondary sources like 404media, Dexerto, and Kotaku, as well as other YouTube creators like Penguinz0 and Asmongold. Ultimately they're all after $$$. Though not to defend this business either, as it should be obvious that anything involving high-value Lego collecting is similar to NFTs, but even more scummy and degenerate. It's weaponized nostalgia.