Subject:
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Re: GREY & WHITE BRICKS? (or a brief Mega Blok experience report)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.au
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Date:
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Thu, 2 Nov 2000 14:26:07 GMT
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> Mega Bloks Battleship will do you for the grey.
> Go over to the dark side...you know you want to.
Having now opened my Mega Bloks aircraft carrier box (but only partway
through building it), I can tell you that I have counted (roughly) that 600
out of the 1700+ pieces are grey 2x4 bricks. Just about each step in the
instructions demands 20+ of these, so you need a lot. At a rough estimate,
about 80% of all pieces are grey, the rest being predominantly black, a few
transparent, and a few decorative odds and ends in a couple of other
colours.
If you like grey pieces, this is the set for you! But note it is not exactly
the same shade of grey as Lego light grey, but then why should it be?
Indeed, if you are thinking of building castles etc, having a mix of Lego
and Mega Blok grey colours might give a more realistic effect than having
only a single shade.
I'm sure if Lego built an aircraft carrier, it would be one of those funky
style ones with lots of random splashes of colour with a few cheeky minifig
sailors on the deck wearing ear muffs with a Bucket-Mouth petty officer
doing a spot of fishing on the approach side of the runway. There would be a
launchable set of lifeboats, motorisable rotating radar, crane and
propellers. There would be chrome macaroni somewhere. There would be a winch
driving the raising/lowering of the anchor chain. Technics cannons with
their rubber-headed projectiles would be used for torpedo launchers below
the water line. The base would be hinged to allow a minisubmarine with a
flexible grabber arm to be launched. There would be lattice sections on the
main flight deck for no discernable reason. Through a window you could look
into the galley where a long-eyelashed stewardess cooks a fish with a black
cat (tail erect) looking on. There would be a small pod of whales splashing
about in the water nearby and a bird roosting on the radar. Of course, the
catapults and the arresting wires (i.e. the essential mechanisms of
launching/landing planes off a carrier) would be omitted.
I guess I'm saying that Mega Bloks give you a lot of bricks, but they don't
have the same whimsical approach to design as Lego does.
Re: the quality of the bricks. Undeniably they are different to Lego. They
look very similar but nonetheless you will easily tell them apart by look or
by feel (I tried an experiment of sorting them blindfolded). The Megablok
bricks feel a little lighter and a bit more brittle. You notice the
brittleness with the large plates; they don't seem to have that little bit
of bend-ability that a Lego plate does; you think "ooh, I'd better be
careful or I might snap it" with the Megablok plate.
Although I have heard people saying the clone bricks do not connect
securely, this is not my experience with this Mega Blok aircraft carrier.
The bricks do require a bit more pressure than Lego, and more often make a
"snapping" sound as they join, but once joined, they are rock solid, and
probably require a touch more pressure to pull (or snap) apart. Of course,
this is a new set; maybe with age, this will not be true. However, there is
one exception to this tight-connecting. That is the 1x1 brick. The top stud
of the 1x1 brick is hopeless at connecting. If these bricks are surrounded
by other bricks, then they are held in place firmly by the tight couplings
all around them, but if you had to use them on their own, they would just
fall off. Very poor.
It is also an unusual set in that it is built upside-down (at least for the
two sections: bow and stern that I have built so far). By that, I mean
stud-side down. I don't know if this is normal for Mega Bloks, but I suspect
that it is because of the peculiar shape of an aircraft carrier (narrow at
the water level and then rapidly widening to form the flight deck) with
relatively little superstructure. With this set, you start by building
sections of the flight deck and then proceed to build down to the waterline,
sloping inwards as you go. I think that working up from the waterline
sloping outwards would be harder to build because there would be more
cantilevering (especially at the corners) during construction. I assume
(without bothering to look ahead in the instructions) that the
superstructure and decorative details will be done right-side-up.
My reaction so far to Megabloks is that, while Lego undeniably have a better
brick and have better designs, the Megabloks are still adequate for the
task, and I bet many cash-conscious parents will be willing to accept second
best in return for much lower prices. If Lego won't sell us the famous Blue
Bucket here in Australia and won't establish Lego Direct, then anyone
interested in bulk bricks should seriously consider the alternatives. While
I can't imagine that any of us would stop buying Lego completely, I think
clones like Mega Bloks do appear to be a good source of bulk bricks for
people wanting to build larger structures.
Anyhow I'll do a fuller report when I finish the set. This has not been a
good week for building, as I have been babysitting for a friend most nights.
Admittedly I did spend a certain amount of that babysitting time building
Duplo boats, planes, and trains with the kids, thanks to the years I have
spent building up their Duplo collection over many birthdays and Christmases
:-) Virtue has its own rewards!
Kerry
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